10 Terrifying Creatures You’re Glad Are Extinct

There are certainly some frightening creatures nowadays. From spiders to that crazy deep sea anglerfish that haunts out nightmares. But if we look back to prehistoric times there were a lot more animals that were simply terrifying. Check out these 10 prehistoric animals that you definitely wouldn’t want to run into.

Number 10: Giant Crocodiles

Purassaurus means flesh crocodile. It lived in South America eight million years ago and would grow up to 13 metres long. That’s more than twice as long as the largest species of crocodile alive today.
Why you’re glad they’re extinct: Being twice as big as your regular giant crocodile means it is also twice as absolutely terrifying.

Number 09: Three-foot-long scorpions

Pulmonoscorpius is a giant species of extinct scorpion was very similar to modern scorpions with front claws and a sting in its tail. The difference is that it was a meter long.
Why you’re glad they’re extinct: You couldn’t pick these bad boys up by their tails and throw them out the window. But they could probably do that to you.

Number 08: Massive Millipedes

Arthropleura is a genus of extinct millipede arthropods that lived in what is now northeastern North America and Scotland around 315 to 299 million years ago, during the late Carboniferous Period. The larger species of the genus are the largest known land invertebrates of all time and would have had few if any predators. Arthropleura species ranged in length from 0.3 to 2.3 metres.

Number 07: Megasharks

Megalodon meaning big tooth from Ancient Greek is an extinct species of shark that lived approximately 23 to 2.6 million years ago. Megalodon grew up to 50 feet long.
Their teeth were the size of an average human hand.

Number 06: Hybrids of Scorpions and Millipedes

Jaekelopterus is an extinct genus of sea scorpion. Jaekelopterus lived approximately 390 million years ago. At an estimated length of 2.5 metres, it is the largest known arthropod ever discovered. Jaekelopterus lived in freshwater lakes and rivers and probably never ventured into the ocean. The animal would have been the top predator of its environment, preying on anything it could catch such as fish and other arthropods.

Number 05: Mega Piranhas

Megapiranha paranensis is an extinct fish from 8–10 million years ago of Argentina. It is thought to have been about 71–128 centimetres in length.

Number 04: The Largest Species of Snake Ever

Titanoboa is an extinct genus of snakes that is known to have lived in present-day La Guajira in northern Colombia. Fossils of Titanoboa have been found and date to around 58 to 60 million years ago. Titanoboa grew up to 13 metres long and weighed over a ton.

Number 03: Huge Dragonflies

Meganeura is a genus of extinct insects from the Carboniferous period (approximately 300 million years ago), which resembled and are related to the present-day dragonflies. With wingspans of up to 65 cm  is one of the largest known flying insect species.

Number 02: Ginormous Shelled Squid

Surviving Cameroceras shell fragments suggest the creature could have been as large as nine metres long. Despite being almost blind it was a fearsome predator, probably the largest in the ocean when it was alive 470 million years ago.

Number 01: Liopleurodon

Feasting on other fish and squids, it weighed around 25 tons and stretched between 20 to 35 feet long. Meaning smooth-sided teeth, Liopleurodon had four flippers making it a quick swimmer. It’s massive skull size was thought to help in seeking out smells in the ocean. I’d much rather run into a sperm whale!