Millions of years ago, the world was different.It was inhabited by prehistoric creatures, beautiful and terrifying at the same time.Dinosaurs, sea predators monstrous, gigantic birds, mammoths and saber-toothed tigers - they have long since vanished, but interest in it is not quenched.
first inhabitants of the planet
When the first living things on Earth?More than three and a half billion years ago there were single-celled organisms.
took entire two billion years before multicellular organisms appeared.Approximately 635 million years ago, Earth was inhabited by invertebrates, and at the beginning of the Cambrian period - vertebrates.
most ancient remains of living organisms that have been found so far belong to the Late Neoproterozoic.
The Cambrian life existed only in the seas.Prominent representatives of the prehistoric animals of that time were trilobites.
Because submarine landslides often occurring many living organisms were buried in mud and survived to our time.Because of this, scientists have a fairly complete picture of the structure and lifestyle of trilobites and other ancient sea creatures.
The Devonian prehistoric animals are actively developing both on land and at sea.The first inhabitants of the wettest places the Earth's surface - mesothelae and centipedes.In the mid-Devonian joined amphibians.
ancient insects
Appearing in the early Devonian period, the insects are developing successfully.Many species have disappeared over time.Some of them were gigantic.
meganeura - belonged to the genus strekozopodobnyh insects.The scope of its wings up to 75 centimeters.She was a predator.
ancient insects have been well studied.And this has helped scientists to ordinary wood tar.Hundreds of millions of years ago, she ran down the trunks of trees and became a death trap for the unwary insects.
They are perfectly preserved in their original transparent sarcophagi to the present day.Thanks to amber, which has become fossilized resin, today anyone can admire the ancient inhabitants of our planet.
Prehistoric marine animals - dangerous giants
The Triassic marine reptiles were first.They could not, like fish, live completely under water.They had to have oxygen and they periodically rise to the surface.Outwardly, they seemed like the land of dinosaurs, but different limbs - at the sea creatures were fins and webbed feet.
first appeared nothosaurus, reaching a rate of 3 to 6 meters, and plakodusy, had three kinds of teeth.Plakodusy were small (about 2 meters), and lived near the shore.Their main food was shellfish.Nothosaurus ate fish.
Jurassic period - the era of giants.At this time, we lived plesiosaurs.The largest of their species reach a length of 15 meters.These include elasmosaurine, has a surprisingly long neck (8 meters).Head, compared with the massive body was small.There was a wide elasmosaurine jaws armed with sharp teeth.
ichthyosaurs - large reptiles, reaching an average of 2-4 meters in length - were similar to modern dolphins.Their feature - large eyes, which suggests nocturnal.These, unlike dinosaurs have skin without scales.It is assumed that ichthyosaurs were abolished deep-sea divers.
More than forty million years ago lived basilosaurus - an ancient whale enormous size.The length of the individual male could reach 21 meters.It was the largest predator of its time and was able to attack other whales.Basilosaurus had a very long skeleton and moved with the help of bending the spine, like a snake.He had rudimentary hind limbs length of 60 centimeters.
Marine prehistoric animals were very diverse.Among them appear the ancestors of modern sharks and crocodiles.The most famous marine predators of the ancient world is a giant shark Megalodon, which reached 16-20 meters in length.This giant weighed about 50 tons.As the skeleton of the shark cartilage consisted of not survived nothing but an animal tooth enamel.It is assumed that the distance between the open jaws of Megalodon reached two meters.It would easily fit two people.
no less dangerous predators were prehistoric crocodiles.
Puruszavr - an extinct relative of modern crocodiles inhabiting about eight million years ago.Length - 15 meters.
deinosuchus - sort of alligator crocodile lived in the late Cretaceous period.Outwardly, little different from the modern representatives of the species.The body length is 15 meters.
most terrible: ancient reptiles
dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals of gigantic proportions continue to surprise the modern man.It is hard to imagine that such giants once ruled the planet.
Mesozoic era - the time of the dinosaurs.Appearing at the end of the Triassic, they have become the main form of life in the Jurassic period, and suddenly disappeared in the late Cretaceous.
astonishing diversity of these ancient reptiles.Among them were land and water leading lifestyle individuals flying species, herbivores and predators.And they differ in size.Most dinosaurs were huge, but there were also quite small lizards.Among the predators of its size highlights the Spinosaurus.The length of its body is from 14 to 18 meters, height - eight meters.Elongated jaws it was like modern crocodiles.Therefore, it is assumed that he was amphibious lifestyle.A feature of Spinosaurus was the presence of the spine, resembling a sail.Thanks to him, he seemed taller.Paleontologists believe that sail animals used for thermoregulation.
ancient bird
Prehistoric Animals (photos can be seen in the article) has been submitted flying lizards and birds.
In the Mesozoic were pterosaurs.Presumably, the largest of them was ornithocheirus, who had wings, which span up to 15 meters.He lived in the Cretaceous period, was a predator and preferred to hunt for big fish.Pteranodon - flying another large predatory reptile of the Cretaceous period.
among prehistoric bird its size gastornis hit.Two meters tall individuals have a beak, which is easily broken bones.Not determined whether this extinct bird predator or consumed plant food.
phorusrhacos - a bird of prey, who lived in the Miocene.Growth reached 2.5 meters.Curved sharp beak and powerful claws makes it dangerous.
Extinct Animals Cenozoic era
It began 66 million years ago.During this time, the world appeared and disappeared thousands of species of living beings.What extinct prehistoric animals of that time were the most interesting?
megatherium - large mammals of the era, the giant sloth.It is assumed that he was a herbivore, but it is possible that megatherium could kill and eat other animals or carrion.
Woolly rhinoceros - was covered with a thick reddish-brown hair.
Mammoth - the most famous extinct genus of elephants.We lived animals two million years ago and were twice the size of today's representatives of their species.We found a lot of remains of mammoths, is very well preserved because of the permafrost.By historical standards, these majestic giants have died recently - about 10 thousand years ago.
From predatory prehistoric animals the most interesting is Smilodon, or saber-toothed tiger.It does not exceed the size of the Amur tiger, but have incredibly long fangs, reaching 28 centimeters.Another feature of the Smilodon had a short tail.
titanoboa - extinct giant snake.A close relative of modern boa.The length of the animal could reach 13 meters.
documentary about prehistoric animals
Among them we can mention such as "Sea Rex: Journey to a Prehistoric World", "Land of mammoths," "The last days of the dinosaurs," "Prehistoric Chronicles," "Walking with Dinosaurs".Good documentaries created about the life of ancient animals, very much.
«The Ballad of the Great Ale" - an amazing story of Allosaurus
This film is part of the famous series "Walking with Dinosaurs".He talks about how the United States was found perfectly preserved skeleton of Allosaurus, which the scientists got the name Big Al.Bone could be seen as fractures and injuries suffered dinosaur, and it is possible to reconstruct the history of his life.
Conclusion
prehistoric animals (dinosaurs, mammoths, cave bears, sea giants), who lived in the distant past, and today affect the human imagination.They - vivid proof of how awesome it was past the Earth.
