The world has seen plenty of animal species grow up and die out, with countless species having gone extinct before humans were ever around. Some of these animals would have been fun to see for ourselves, but these 10 terrifying animals you’ll be glad are extinct definitely aren’t in that list. ► Subscribe For New Videos! ►
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Number 10. Cameroceras
This particular genus of giant cephalopod lived during the Ordovician period for the most part, first appearing in the fossil record around 470 million years ago. We’ve been able to work out the fact that these creatures were fairly widespread when they were alive, roaming the ancient shallow seas of Laurentia, Baltica, and Siberia. The last known specimen seems to have died out during the Wenlock epoch after the Ordovician-Silurian extinction events. These cephalopods are ancient ancestors of today's octopuses, squids, and cuttlefish and cameroceras translates to ‘chambered horn’ thanks to their hard, cone-like protective shell, which resembled a nautilus shell. These deep sea creatures are thought to have grown to be around 9 metres long when fully grown, making them quite impressive hunters to be sure. They are thought to have been almost completely blind, although this theory hasn’t yet been proven. For the most part, we assume that the head of the animal was made of soft muscular tissue sticking out of the shell, with a mantle being housed within the shell and tentacles growing out from the base of the head. Chewing food seems to have been achieved with the help of a hard keratinous beak that was seemingly strong enough to crack open the skulls of its victims and toothed tongue to scoop out soft tissue.
Number 9. Arthropleura
This species of extinct millipede arthropods lived in and around what is now North America and Scotland when they inhabited the earth a solid 345 to 295 million years ago. They are known to have lived between the Visean stage of the lower Carboniferous period to the Asselian stage of the lower Permian period. What makes these creatures special is that many experts currently believe that they are the largest known land invertebrates of all time. This means that they probably had very few predators, allowing them to live their lives without much issue. While some species of arthropleura were no larger than 0.3 metres long, some grew to lengths of over 2.5 metres from one end to the other. Each of these had a round 30 jointed segments, which were each covered by side plates and a center plate for added protection. Thankfully, these ancient millipedes weren’t active predators or hunters, but instead lived a herbivorous life. There are many examples of arthropleura’s fossilized footprints found all over North America, with one set in Joggins, Nova Scotia in Canada suggesting that the animal that made them was at least 50 centimetres wide, which is no joke even if the creature that made it wasn’t an immediate threat.
Number 8. Megapiranha
These ancient fish are thought to have lived around the Late Miocene sub-epoch, inhabiting the area now known as Argentina. It’s assumed that this fish was fairly widespread throughout South America back then. This extinct serrasalmid characin was a fierce predator that dominated rivers between 10 and 8 million years ago. One of the largest known species of piranha that ever lived, megapiranha is thought to have grown to sizes of around 28 inches in length. While this doesn’t mark it as one of the largest fish in the world, it does make it a monstrous piranha and that likely made it one hell of a troublemaker for creatures living back then. They had a razor-sharp zigzag row of teeth and are thought to be a transitional species based on what we know about piranhas today. We don’t have much to go on at this point, but studies have estimated that its bite force could have easily been upwards of 5,000 Newtons, which puts it right up there with Dunkleosteus Terrelli, which is thought to have had the most powerful bite of any fish and lived during the late Devonian period around 382 to 358 million years ago.
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