Top 10 Lesser-Known But Interesting Ancient Animals
The majority of scientists agree that living creatures evolved through natural selection. That is, we dump unfavorable body parts and develop favorable ones. While it is a slow process, it usually leads to the creation of entirely new—and often strange—animals over thousands or millions of years.
Many of these animals had strange features that would have scared the heck out of us and even other animals. Who wouldn’t be scared of a 9-meter-long (30 ft) crocodile? Or a four-legged snake? Thankfully, they have all gone extinct.
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The marsupial lion (
Thylacoleo carnifex) is an extinct carnivore that resembles the Tasmanian devil. It just happened to be bigger, more ferocious, and more intimidating with powerful jaws, strong bones, and supersharp jaws and teeth. Researchers have likened it to a “Tasmanian devil on steroids.”