so i was rewatching prehistoric predators and walking with beasts etc. and i was inspired to draw my favourite prehistoric predatory animals! Entelodont, a giant killer pig, hynaedon, an ancient hyena-like creature which was much bigger than it’s modern day predecessors, the cave bear, a large, fearsome bear, which of course lived in caves and the terror bird a large avian predator, some even towered over humans reaching about 9-10ft. Yeah i love them all hahah
Travel back in time and go face-to-face with the most ferocious animal giants of the Ice Age. Animals such as the saber-toothed cat, the short-faced bear, and...
Prehistoric Predators: Saber Tooth Cat. 2007 National Geographic production. The most memorable part of this relatively short documentary comes close to the end, when scientists test out a “Robo-Cat” device to try and figure out how, exactly, saber-toothed cats might have used those big ol’ teeth to kill their prey. There is some corruption in this upload, so the image occasionally goes a little off. This link contains the full series, but I have only seen this episode.
Thylacosmilus atrox is an extinct species of saber-toothed metatherian that inhabited South America from the late Miocene to Piacenziane. Though Thylacosmilus is one of several predatory mammal genera typically called "saber-toothed cats", it was not a felid, but a sparassodont, a group closely related to marsupials, and only superficially resembled other saber-toothed mammals due to convergent evolution. Based on studies of its habitat, Thylacosmilus is believed to have hunted in savannah-like or sparsely forested areas.
Thylacosmilus had large, saber-like canines. The roots of these canines grew throughout the animal’s life, growing in an arc up the maxilla and above the orbits. Body mass estimates of Thylacosmilus suggest this animal weighed between 180–260 pounds, and one estimate suggesting up to 330 pounds, about the same size as a modern jaguar. This would make it one of the largest known carnivorous metatherians.
Recent comparative biomechanical analysis have estimated the bite force of T. atrox starting at maximum gape at 38 newtons (8.5 lbf), much weaker than that of a leopard, suggesting its jaw muscles had an insignificant role in the dispatch of prey. Its skull was similar to that of Smilodon in that it was much better adapted to withstand loads applied by the neck musculature, which, along with evidence for powerful and flexible forelimb musculature and other skeleton adaptations for stability, support the hypothesis that its killing method consisted on immobilization of its prey followed by precisely directed, deep bites into the soft tissue driven by powerful neck muscles.
Andrewsarchus is an extinct genus of mammal that lived during the middle Eocene epoch in what is now Inner Mongolia, China. Only one species is usually recognized, A. mongoliensis, known from a single skull of great size discovered in 1923. Generally classified as a mesonychid since its original description, most recent studies classify it as an artiodactyl, in one study specifically, as a member of the clade Cetacodontamorpha, closely related to entelodonts, hippos and whales.
The only known skull was found at a locality in the lower levels of the middle Eocene Irdin Manha Formation of Inner Mongolia. he skull is now on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. It was classified in the clade Mesonychia due to the similarity in structure between its teeth and skull with those of other mesonychid species known from complete skeletons. However, more recent studies have found it to have no special mesonychid affinities, instead grouping it with various artiodactyl clades. Osborn (1924) declared Andrewsarchus as the largest terrestrial mammalian carnivore known on the basis of the length of the skull, which he used to estimate its size comparing it to the mesonychid Mesonyx
A saber toothed tiger character I came up with. She’s pretty much full of herself. Oh ya, I drew my boyfriend in the upper lefthand corner of the second image.
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25 Amazing Prehistoric Predators!!
Prehistoric times contained some of the largest and most terrifying predators to have ever roamed the earth. Some relied on raw strength and speed while others utilized the element of surprise to satisfy their hunger.
Despite these two dissimilar styles of hunting, each of these predators shared a common characteristic: they reigned as one of the top hunters of their time. These 25 amazing prehistoric predators had their own particular ways of hunting that kept them at the top of the food chain.
