Ancient Megafauna

[SGR]

Who's got some cool ancient megafauna I've never heard of? Here are some examples I find interesting:

The giant ape, Gigantopithecus:



The American short-faced bear:



The terror of the ancient seas, the giant shark Megalodon:



You got any favorites?

[Jwb]

[Guybrush]

Yes, although this one may not quite qualify as it's not really ancient 🙂

My favorite is the Seller's Sea Cow:





It was a huge sea cow or rather dugong that could probably reach up to 9 metres length and a weight of 8 to 10 tons. A population in the Bering Sea existed and the species was described by Georg Wilhelm Steller in 1741. A mere 27 years later, in 1768, it had been hunted to extinction for its meat and blubber.

I find it fascinating that most people are completely unaware such a creature existed up until relatively modern times. Unfortunately, this was at a time when nations were whaling and had no care for sustainability or catch quotas. Bye, beautiful dugong.

Looking at the ocean and the abundance of macro algae, it seems a little weird that there seems to be nothing that really grazes on it. No more cows in the ocean.. well, at least not here.