The past is packed with monsters! Behemoths compared to their present-day relatives...

Joyce Park stashed this in Science

August 11, 2015

The past is packed with monsters! Behemoths by the dozen!Let’s meet these fossils! (and their less colossal modern cousins)

Earth’s ancient history is full of giant versions of modern animals. Evolutionary forces (competition for resources, changes in climate) pushed these species to become incredibly large. And I’m not just talking about giant dinosaurs - there were huge mammals and marsupials too.

A lot of these giants lived in the Pleistocene, an epoch stretching from around 2.5 million to 11,000 years ago. Mysteriously, the extinction of many of these animals coincides with humanity’s arrival as a dominant predator.

Watch a video / listen to a poem about these prehistoric monsters.

Illustrations by Mary McLain

Source: skunkbear.tumblr.com

<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://skunkbear.tumblr.com/post/126437428239/prehistoric-monsters">August 11, 2015</a>

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 The past is packed with monsters! Behemoths by the dozen!Let’s meet these fossils! (and their less colossal modern cousins)

Earth’s ancient history is full of giant versions of modern animals. Evolutionary forces (competition for resources, changes in climate) pushed these species to become incredibly large. And I’m not just talking about giant dinosaurs - there were huge mammals and marsupials too.

A lot of these giants lived in the Pleistocene, an epoch stretching from around 2.5 million to 11,000 years ago. Mysteriously, the extinction of many of these animals coincides with humanity’s arrival as a dominant predator.

<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://youtu.be/KWfsCQiFPOM">Watch a video / listen to a poem about these prehistoric monsters.</a>

Illustrations by <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.marymclain.com/">Mary McLain</a>
 
 Source:
 <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://skunkbear.tumblr.com/post/126437428239">skunkbear.tumblr.com</a>