Was watching “Ice Age 2” which got me thinking about megafauna again.

Something to look through.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largest_prehistoric_animals

Patagotoitan compared with largest historic rhino (left) and elephant (right).

Skull of paracerotherium, left animal above.

The largest known monotreme ever was the long-beaked echidna species known as Zaglossus hacketti, known from a couple of bones found in Western Australia. It was the size of a sheep, weighing probably up to 30 kg.

The heaviest marsupial was the diprotodon of course. 3 m long, standing 2 m tall and weighing up to 2,786 kg.

The largest kangaroo could weigh 230 kg.

There were giant hippos, bison and pigs, horses and tapir. The largest pigs weighed up to 500 kg.
But camels and giraffe ancestors were never much larger than they are today.

The largest known bear, as the largest known mammalian land predator of all time, was Arctotherium angustidens, the South American short-faced bear. It could have weighed 1,588–1,749 kg and stood at least 3.4 m tall on their hind-limbs.

The giant otter, Enhydriodon exceeded 3 m in length, and would have weighed in at around 200 kg. Only its skull has been found.

The largest armadillo had a spiked tail club.

Giant sloth.

Rodents made it to 3 metres long and 1.5 metres high.

The largest known primate of all time was Gigantopithecus blackii, standing 3 m tall and weighing 540 kg.

I particularly like that lady in blue who’s all.. “I’ll show you my swagger even without features”. Queen

See also https://www.boredpanda.com/digital-art-animals-prehistoric-fauna-ancestors-past-present-roman-uchytel-part-2/

Or smallest

Or the same size

PS. Apparently the yeti and polar bear are genetically very similar, possibly even identical.

mollwollfumble said:

See also https://www.boredpanda.com/digital-art-animals-prehistoric-fauna-ancestors-past-present-roman-uchytel-part-2/

Or smallest

Or the same size

PS. Apparently the yeti and polar bear are genetically very similar, possibly even identical.

The local contender is Diprotodon: Measuring 10 feet long from snout to tail and weighing up to three tons, Diprotodon was the largest pouched mammal that ever lived, outclassing even the giant short-faced kangaroo and the marsupial lion.

It’s a fun thing to be alive at the time when the largest animal ever is also alive. I wonder what fraction of earth’s prehistory could boast the same.

(Though there may be some preservation-bias, if there were skeletal or exoskeletal critters bigger than a BW, we’d have found some trace. I suppose it is conceivable that there were non-skeletal critters bigger than that, there would be questions about its ability to stay integrated. The most massive animal on earth today that has no kind of skeleton is basically the same weight as a cow.)

Tamb said:

mollwollfumble said:

See also https://www.boredpanda.com/digital-art-animals-prehistoric-fauna-ancestors-past-present-roman-uchytel-part-2/

Or smallest

Or the same size

PS. Apparently the yeti and polar bear are genetically very similar, possibly even identical.

The local contender is Diprotodon: Measuring 10 feet long from snout to tail and weighing up to three tons, Diprotodon was the largest pouched mammal that ever lived, outclassing even the giant short-faced kangaroo and the marsupial lion.

Nice! Largest marsupal ever.

A few more I wouldn’t have guessed are below.

An even bigger giant tortoise.

A giant ancestor of the Fossa

Hyena

Even the walrus had a bigger ancestor

dv said:

It’s a fun thing to be alive at the time when the largest animal ever is also alive. I wonder what fraction of earth’s prehistory could boast the same.

(Though there may be some preservation-bias, if there were skeletal or exoskeletal critters bigger than a BW, we’d have found some trace. I suppose it is conceivable that there were non-skeletal critters bigger than that, there would be questions about its ability to stay integrated. The most massive animal on earth today that has no kind of skeleton is basically the same weight as a cow.)

What’s that in giraffes?