Prehistoric Creatures

[BorgyDudeMan]

*Dinosaur Roar Sounds intensify*

Well, I thought I could start a thread here about one of my favorite parts of prehistory: the creatures that lived in the long past. And the reason why is because of how bizzare life can be. These creatures are highlights on the evolution of life on the planet as time has went on.

So, I thought of starting a thread about one of my passions here in OTB because Wynaut? Let's talk about our knowledge of prehistoric creatures here...

 

[Harryghost]

Wow, I did not know you had such a deep interest in dinosaurs. I thought you trapped me into the dinosaur island just for the lulz. Guess we learn something new everyday.

Eh, sorry buddy, but I don't know much about dinosaurs apart from the fact that they existed millions of years ago and were mass-eradicated due to collision of earth with a comet/meteorite/whatever...

From the back of my head, the only dinosaur-scientific names I can remember, are the ferocious Tyrannosauruses (I know that is not a word, but still) and the long neck Sauropods. Apart from that, I remember reading about a dinosaur fossil whose scientific name is based on Aerodactyl. Ummm... yeah that's pretty much it.

Man, I think I seriously need to step up my game and learn more about these prehistoric beings, needn't I?

EDIT: I just realised that this thread is more about prehistoric creatures, than just dinosaurs, so I decided to give my additional two cents on this topic. You see, apart from dinosaurs, Coelacanths are another interesting group of animals, and since reading about them in Biology, I find myself genuinely interested in their study and behaviour. I know, the order is not extinct but they do have prehistoric origins, and the fact that they have been recently discovered is hopeful of the fact that maybe more living prehistoric animals will be discovered in the future to come.

 

[BorgyDudeMan]

Man, I think I seriously need to step up my game and learn more about these prehistoric beings, needn't I?

Why yes of course

Like what I said in the beginning, the creatures that lived in the far past highlight how amazing evolution is. Beside the dinosaurs, there were many strange life forms. Have you ever heard of a giant centipede/milipede like thing?. Or A dragonfly with a wingspan of 2 feet?. Things like these are quite amazing, but it's really sad to see them go extinct as time went on

 

[Chibster]

I like reading up on prehistoric species as well, but from what I can tell, definitely not as much as you do! I hope you can turn your passion into a career or something similar.

Some species I think are intersting:
Reptiles: Plesiosaurus, Brachiosaurus
Avian: Pelagornis sandersi, Gastronis, Archaeopteryx
Mammal: Gigantopithecus blacki, Dire wolf, Saber-toothed tiger, American lion

@BorgyDudeMan Any opinions on animals that are considered to be "living fossils", like the horseshoe crab?

 

[BorgyDudeMan]

Any opinions on animals that are considered to be "living fossils", like the horseshoe crab?

Hmmm.. I heard that term before but never knew what that means..
*Googles "living fossil"*
Oh, OK. I think living fossils are things that are such wonder to me anyway. They should have evolved to adapt to today's climate and environment, but how in the world did they stay that way? Hmm...

 

[dragon_nataku]

They say alligators and crocodiles haven't changed much since they first came into existence millions of years ago.

In other news: Meet Your Mama: First Ancestor of All Placental Mammals Revealed
I think this thing is adorable. It's the last common ancestor of mammals, and appeared shortly after the dinosaurs became extinct.

Phorusrhacidae - Wikipedia Terrorbirds are pretty cool too.

 

[Syrinaris]

Archeopteryx has always been my favorite prehistoric creature.
I was so hype when I saw it was going to be included in the Unova games as Archeops.
After that, I just love most dinosaurs in general.

 

[Beth Pavell]

I think my favourite is probably Charnia masoni - something that lived before even the Cambrian, and frankly doesn't really look like very much. I'd love an excuse to go to Leicester to see the holotype. Discovered by a girl, if memory serves

 

[BorgyDudeMan]

I clearly don't understand why people dont like feathered dinosaurs...

 

[dragon_nataku]

The people who don't like feathered dinosaurs are literally just the people who have a problem with evolution, period, because feathered dinosaurs proves that reptiles and birds are linked evolutionarily.

 

[Scarlet Sky]

I don't know all that much about the dinosaurs or other creatures from prehistory but I used to find them fascinating as can be when I was a kid. Even now, I wouldn't mind owning a good fossilized tooth or something. That being said, I still find them fascinating in a sense. Just not to the degree I could read a lot of books and watch a lot of documentaries about them.
Also to be fair, feathered dinosaurs don't have QUITE the same awesome mental image that giant lizards do. Actually the more we learn about the dinosaurs the less they seem like these borderline monsters of old mythology. The dinosaurs were likely unable to produce a roar for one thing.

 

[ocelotlrama jaguar]

I'll always have mental images of dinosaurs that are both lizard-like and feathered. I love both, and it's amazing what science discovers everyday and what an artists' rendition of what these creatures could look like in either biological form is just fascinating. I do have to wonder where the theory of these creatures breathing fire came from way back when. There is mythology, and then there's... that. Then again, Jurassic Park made the dilophosaurus an acid-spitting frilled-lizard the size of an adult man, so I'll just chalk it up to creative licensing. Does anyone think dinosaurs would be able to live in the world today? I personally doubt there will ever be a real Jurassic Park considering how different the climate and even the vegetation is.

I don't know too much about prehistoric creatures except for the different theories I read about nowadays (was the T-Rex a mighty hunter or a simple scavenger?), and there seems to be little agreement amongst scientists on a few things like that. I can guarantee one thing: they are massive. In 2009, for the first time in my life, I visited a museum with all sorts of dinosaur skeletons. Real ones, not the replicas that I see in small-town museums and zoos. I'm the typical kid who says the T-Rex is their favorite (because it just is). Its mouth is so big, my brother could fit in it easily (he's 5'11" and I'm a measly 5'6"). When I saw the prehistoric mammals, they were a lot smaller than I thought. My favorite is the smilodon, and it was not as big as I pictured it. The smilodon at the museum could have been a smaller subspecies because I know there is another species of smilodon that is larger than modern-day tigers. This smilodon was about as big as I was, maybe smaller. I'm not saying it could not rip me to shreds, but it wasn't large. The only mammal that I am familiar with that was big if not bigger than I imagined was the wooly mammoth. That thing was so massive it was the only mammal to have taken up two floors of the building. Really cool.

 

[Beth Pavell]

Does anyone think dinosaurs would be able to live in the world today?

Depends upon where, I suppose, and what ecological niche. Modern lizards have certain advantages over mammals, such as generally needing to eat less. I don't recall what the current thinking is on this, but I suppose if dinosaurs were cold blooded they'd retain that advantage in a modern world

 

[TRNatalie]

I love prehistoric animals! When I was little, my grandparents had a "Walking with Beasts" documentary that I watched all the time. My favorites of the mammals are Indrocathere, Smilodon, and Leptictidium. My favorite dinosaurs are Ankylosaurus and Velociraptor. My favorite animals before dinosaurs are Dimetroden, Arthropleura, and Meganeura(the possible inspiration of Yanmega)!

 

[noworry]

I used to collect books about dinosaurs and other prehistoric life creatures, as well as figurines (I'm interested in history in general). I still love dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures to this day. My favourite dinosaur is the Dracorex, which is the one Rampardos is based on (it's why I also love Rampardos so much).

It's really cool to think about how the world used to be. We do have a lot of theories, and some things are confirmed, but there are still things we aren't able to figure out. I always found that to be really interesting.

Also: While the Stegosaurus lived about 150 million years ago, the T-Rex lived about 60 million years ago, meaning they're closer to us in terms of time.

 

[Kung Fu Ferret]

I have always found extinct life forms to be quite fascinating. One of my favorites is the diprotodon, the largest marsupial to ever live.

 

[Ｄｉｓ]

If you asked me what I wanted to be in 2nd grade I would've said "I'm gonna be a paleontologist!" Then when I hit middle school they told me to choose a real career... Prehistoric beasts were my passion. My favorites were Giganotosaurus, Quetzalcoatlus, Liopleurodon, and for mammals it was always the wooly mammoth.

 

[Lylian]

I like prehistoric sea creatures. Faves- Liopleurodon, Mosasaurus, Basilosaurs, Kronosaurus

 

[Kung Fu Ferret]

Paraceratherium was pretty cool. It was among the largest land mammals to ever exist.

I'm also an absolute sucker for giant sloths, because modern day sloths are among my favorite animals.

 

[Peekaboo Pikachu]

The only thing I know about prehistoric life is that, as a cat lover, I have an appreciation for the smilodon.

A few weeks ago when I was attempting to make up my own Fakemon, I tried to make a two-stage evolution Ice/Ground type based on a smilodon. I even went so far as to name them ("Soldatooth" -> "Sabrekrieg"), but designing them was much more difficult than I had anticipated; "Soldatooth" wound up resembling Rockruff far too much. I'm satisfied with everything else about them though, so I haven't completely given up on the idea yet.