Finding a living prehistoric animal once thought to be extinct is a paleontologist's dream. But is this really possible today, considering all we know about the natural world? As much as we like to think we have every corner of our planet mapped and categorized, there are still dark places that few people go to.
Megatherium
The giant terrestrial sloth named Megatherium is a gigantic and terrifying beast, one of the largest land mammals that has ever lived on this planet. At twenty feet long, it can stand up on its hind legs when needed, and is without a doubt a majestic sight.
Megatherium is a slow-moving herbivore, so humans might be less scared, but putting yourself within reach if its giant claws are definitely a bad idea. The first humans in South America hunted this giant creature to extinction ten thousand years ago, so why are we still talking about it?
In the deep forests of South America there are stories of a terrifying creature known as the Mapinguari. This monster is said to be ten feet tall or better, has giant inverted claws and a mouth on its belly. It sounds ridiculous, but these are the qualities that can really match the giant terrestrial sloth, Megatherium.
Megatherium's claws were so large that researchers think it could walk on its knuckles, with the claws out to the side. Therefore, those who strayed forward. Megatherium will easily stand ten feet or more on its hind legs, so the size is right. As for the mouth part of the abdomen on the abdomen, some researchers say this is a sign of more scent glands than many sloths possess.
Although this beast eats plants and only uses its claws to hook up plants or for self-defense, it's easy to see how villagers in remote parts of South America could be struck by a terrifying and terrifying creature. so afraid to observe.
Megalodon Shark
Megalodon was the largest shark to ever swim the world's oceans, reaching lengths of sixty feet or more. It preyed on whales and other large marine mammals, and would have become the ocean's apex predator by that time.
Megalodon went extinct a million and a half years ago, perhaps due to changing global climate conditions, increased competition for dwindling food supplies, or a combination of both. So what makes us think Megalodon is still alive today?
Occasionally there is a report of a monster shark, larger than the one we currently know. We know a typical great white shark is about sixteen feet long, with a record of about twenty-one feet. So how do we interpret reports of large whites 40 feet and larger?
These stories have been told as long as men have gone to sea. In recent times, anglers have reported possible Megalodon encounters in the Sea of Cortez and other areas where the ocean is deep and difficult to explore.
One tangible piece of evidence that we know of is a Megalodon tooth dredged from the Mariana Trench in 1875. When the carbon is about 10,000 years old, that's far from millions of years ago when we thought the last Megalodon was gone. living.
Does this mean that there is still a population of Megalodon ruins somewhere in the deepest part of the ocean?
Gigantopithecus Blacki
Thousands of years ago, in Asia, there lived a giant ape named Gigantopithecus Blacki. It stands tall, and weighs a thousand pounds or more. The researchers think it resembles a large orangutan and would have lived on bamboo and other vegetation.
The only evidence that exists of this monster is fossilized teeth and jaw fragments, so there's a lot of speculation about its true size and anatomical features. Some researchers think it is bipedal, while others say it must move on all fours like a gorilla.
Gigantopithecus Blacki died a hundred thousand years ago, and while it encountered some of our relatives, it did not live in Asia around the time modern humans moved in. Or is that so? There are those who believe that Gigantopithecus evolved into a mythical creature we are all familiar with: Bigfoot.
If Giganto had started growing while it was still in Asia, it could have become bipedal (if it wasn't already) and more human, and now exist as what we call the Yeti. When sea levels were lower during the last ice age, there was a great exchange of animals between North America and Asia, on a land we call Beringia.
Beringia was the vast landmass that currently forms the seafloor under the Bering Sea today, and is also known as the Bering Land Bridge. Humans are believed to have made this trip and populated the Americas. Did the ancestors of Gigatopithecus also pass through, and did they live in the forests of North America as Sasquatch?
Plesiosaur
Plesiosaurs were marine reptiles that lived during the time of the dinosaurs. There are many different types, in all shapes and sizes. The ones we are most familiar with are the large, long-necked animals with flippers. Plesiosaurs mainly ate fish, but some of the larger ones ate larger animals and may have even plucked a dinosaur from the shore now.
It is widely accepted that the same mass extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs did in the great marine reptiles, about 65 million years ago. But there are those who think that some plesiosaur is still with us, and they have plenty of reasons to say so.
Underwater monsters that fit the descriptions of some of these reptiles have come from lakes across the word, as well as the open ocean. This is a theory that supposedly explains the Loch Ness Monster. Because Loch Ness is connected to the ocean, the story goes that a population of plesiosaurs somehow escaped from the sea and into the lake's confines.
This theory is problematic on many levels, but the fury of seeing lake monsters from all over the planet causes many cryptographers to keep the plesiosaur explanation on the table.
Some examples of Plesiosaur-like creatures reported in North America include Champ from Lake Champlain and Memphre from Lake Memphremagog.
Dinosaur
It's every kid's dream, and so are some adults, but can some dinosaurs really survive extinction and live today? Some cryptographers think so, and they're not talking about birds. They point to stories of strange beasts in the Congo region of Africa as evidence.
Going by stories relayed by local tribes, it seems that there are several different types of dinosaurs still in existence in Africa. One, known as Mokele Mbeme, is said to have a large body like an elephant but a long neck and small head. It lives in rivers, eats plants and becomes very aggressive if approached. This sounds a lot like a sauropod dinosaur.
Other descriptions are consistent with stegraels, rhinoceros-like ceretops, and other dinosaurs thought to be extinct. If something like dinosaurs still lived somewhere in the world, remote parts of Africa would be a good place to hide. These areas are rarely visited by outsiders, and the geography, animals, and local politics make them dangerous places.
However, it seems crazy to think that a few dinosaur species may have escaped extinction, and somehow survived the event that killed off their kind as well as anything else larger than a single dinosaur. badger. But the most amazing thing is, when the local African tribes were shown pictures of animals that some of them knew, some they had never seen before, and some of the extinct dinosaurs, they just into dinosaurs like the ones they saw in the jungle.
What else out there?
Sometimes we forget how big our world is and how much is left to explore. It is true that there are new animals discovered every year and some of them are quite large. But any one of the beasts in this article will be the discovery of the century, and possibly of all times.
It is possible that these animals may still exist somewhere out there, but there may also be strange creatures that we cannot even imagine. The deepest oceans and densest jungles still hold secrets, and there's still much to learn about the places humans dread walking. Some may be new creatures, and others may be prehistoric animals that we thought were long extinct.
