Giants of the past
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Giant amoeba
Giant plants- fern trees,
Giant evergreens
Giant flowering plants
Giant pillbugs
Giant insects
Giant amphibians
Giant reptiles
Giant dinosaurs and their descendents the giant birds
Giant mammals all groups
Precambrian
• A period of single celled organisms.
• No life on land, just in the seas
• We find impressions of single cells, and
mud tracks, looks sort of like worm tracks
but there is no evidence of multicellular
organisms
• They had assumed that the only creatures with the
physiology to make such grooves were ancestors of
multicelled animals that seemed to evolve at lightning
speed in the Cambrian explosion . . . . years ago.
• But they have never found any fossils to match the
traces.
•
• One theory to explain the anomaly is that the grooves
were made by soft-bodied animals that left no skeletal
trace in the fossil record. But the oldest of these tracks
pre-date the evolution of multicellular life. (sounds like a
flaw)
•
• “Pretty much anything within the Precambrian fossil
record can in principle be attributed to large protozoans,”
says Matz
Giant amoeba
• Grape-sized protests with complex tracks, called Gromia
sphaerica, recently discovered on the ocean floor near
the Bahamas, could be a new insight into the
evolutionary origin of animals. This is the first time a
single-celled organism has been shown to make such
animal-like traces, described in a fascinating article
found in Science Daily. As we know, similar fossil
grooves and furrows found from the Precambrian era, as
early as 1.8 billion years ago, have always been
attributed to early evolving multicellular animals.
However, this find has caused many scientists to begin
rethinking the fossil record
• http://www.oceanographerschoice.com/2009/05/wandering-seagrapes-blow-scientists-mind-grapes
http://www.crome.org/wp/2008/11/holy-crap-man-a-grape-sized-amoeba/
Cambrian period
• The cambrian is
known for the
explosion of life in the
seas, a time of
anything has a
chance.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/history
_of_the_earth/Cambrian
Carboniferous period
What was there?
•
•
•
•
•
Giant ferns tree ferns
Giant insects
Amphibians
Early reptiles
Conifers
Fern trees.
In the Seas
• Giant fish, armored plated 33 feet in length
• Sea Scorpions moved locations a
discovery of their tracks on land, and their
chasing small sea animals on to the
shores. This discovery is especially
exciting to scientists as it was previously
thought that Hibbertopterus spent most of
its time in water, rather than walking
around for prolonged periods
• 2 meters long and one meter wide,from 330 million years
ago.
• The tracks were made by a giant six-legged "sea
scorpion" called Hibbertopterus as it crawled over damp
sand about 330 million years ago.
• It is the largest known walking trackway of a eurypterid
or any invertebrate animal.
• The tracks were discovered by Dr Martin Whyte from the
University of Sheffield while he was out walking.
• Scottish Natural Heritage, which is funding the project,
described the find as unique and internationally
important because the creature was gigantic.
• This discovery is especially exciting to
scientists as it was previously thought that
Hibbertopterus spent most of its time in
water, rather than walking around for
prolonged periods.
•
•
•
six walking legs, two front
claws and two swimming
legs
18 inch claw
• This claw
belonged to a
giant sea
scorpion,
estimated to be
2.5 metres
long. ((Markus
Poschmann)
land
• The land is were we see the most changes
for this is the time when plants colonized
the land followed by long term animals.
Giant invertebrates – Meganeura (dragonfly)and
Arthropleura millipede
(meg-a-new-ra and are-thro-ploo-ra)
• Where meganeura USA
• Arthropleura Scotland
Model of an arthropleura, a
millipede 10 feet in length
Dragonflies with 3.5-4 ft wing spans
the aerial predators of the time
Compared to us
Cockroach of the time
• 1 foot cockroach
• We have tracks of
• Even bigger ones.
Pederpes – an early tetrapod
(ped-urp-ees)
means 4 legs
• Found in Scotland, 40
cm
Pentremites a blastoid
• Found in USA
• Pentremites was a blastoid; a type of
echinoderm related to the crinoids or ‘sea
lilies’. Like crinoids, these animals lived on
the sea floor attached by a stalk, and
collected food that floated in the currents
by trapping it in tentacle-like structures
called branchioles. Blastoids were
common in the Carboniferous, but became
entirely extinct by the end of the Permian.
Goniatites and ammonite (gon-eea-tie-tees
Stethacanthus – a prickly-finned shark
(ste-tha-can-thuss)
• Found USA
• This odd-looking shark lived in shallow
coastal waters 350 million years ago,
feeding on fish, cephalopods and
crustaceans. The purpose of the
strangely-shaped fin and spiked forehead
of Stethacanthus is uncertain – they may
have played a role in courtship or as a
visual threat
More recent
• Pillbugs- they have marine relatives.
• Giant sharks, marine mammals, the
megafawna of the recent ice ages,
• We still have giant salamanders, smaller
than their ancestors but at least 6 feet long
river livers. Ancestors 12-14 feet a lurking
predator of ponds.
Giant Isopods or the common
Pillbugs
Garden variety
Pacific ocean sized
• The giant isopods are crustaceans in the genus
Brahynomus. They were first described to science in
1879, and are related to pill bugs and wood lice. They
are unusual but otherwise commonly known within
marine biology.
• A giant isopod is any of the almost 20 species of large
isopods (crustaceans related to the shrimp and crabs) in
the genus Bathynomus. They are thought to be
abundant in cold, deep waters of the Atlantic,[2] Pacific
and Indian Oceans.[1] Bathynomus giganteus, the
species upon which the generitype is based, is often
considered the largest isopod in the world, though other
comparably poorly known species of Bathynomus may
reach a similar size (e.g., B. kensleyi).[1]
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Arthropoda
Subphylum:Crustacea
Class:Malacostraca
Order:Isopoda
Suborder:Cymothoida
Family:Cirolanidae
Genus:Bathynomus
• 20 known species
Modern giant salamander
• A single species, the hellbender
(Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) occurs in the
eastern United States, while Asian species occur
in both China and Japan. They are the largest
living amphibians known today. The Japanese
giant salamander (Andrias japonicus), reaches
up to 1.44 m (4.7 ft), feeds on fish and
crustaceans, and has been known to live for
more than 50 years in captivity. The Chinese
giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) can
reach a length of 1.8 m (5.9 ft).[
megalodon
• In June of 2014 a recently tagged great white
was eatten, at Mysterious Universe, Tom Head
presented the fascinating account of the mystery
of the 9 foot great white shark that was attacked,
pulled into the depths and apparently consumed
by a mysterious predator. The report has
sparked much discussion and debate as to the
identity of the culprit, with one name in particular
being thrown around- the giant prehistoric
predator, Carcharodon megalodon.
• Physical evidence of Megalodon, or any shark for that matter, is
hard to come by. This is namely due to the fact that these are
cartilaginous fish, which results in the body not preserving well at all.
All we really have to go on with creatures such as Megalodon is their
teeth. In that respect, one of the most exciting discoveries pointing
to the Megalodon surviving into modern days was dredged up on a
seabed near Tahiti in 1875, by the British ship the HMS Challenger.
When analyzed and dated, the teeth were found to be only between
10,000 to 15,000 years old, putting them far beyond the established
Megalodon extinction of 1.5 million years ago and concurrent with
modern humans. Although further tests have given mixed results on
the dating of these teeth, it certainly lends credence to the idea that
these massive sharks could have survived into modern days.
• Above and beyond this tantalizing physical evidence, there have
been various accounts and sightings over the years that possibly
point to a creature such as Megalodon.
• Locals and fishermen of Mexico’s Sea of Cortez have long told
seeing gargantuan sharks with lengths of up to 60 feet long, which
they refer to as “Black Demons.” Sightings and even alleged
collisions between boats and the huge monsters are so persistent
that the popular TV show Monsterquest even launched an
investigation of the area. Although they produced no evidence, the
reports continue to come in from time to time.
• Whether the Sea of Cortez harbors a remnant population of
Megalodon, it certainly has its share of very large sharks
nevertheless. In 2012, a truly huge great white shark measuring 20
feet long and weighing over 2,000 pounds was caught in a net in the
Sea of Cortez near Guaymas. If the measurements are indeed
accurate, then the shark would be one of the largest specimens of
great white ever recorded.
Another account comes from the author B.C.
Cartmell, who in his 1978 book Let’s Go Fossil
Shark Tooth Hunting, included this report
• In the 1960s along the outer edge of Australia’s
Great Barrier Reef, an 85-foot ship experienced
engine trouble, which forced it to weigh anchor
for repairs. Although the men subsequently
refused to openly report what they had seen for
fear of public ridicule, the captain and his crew
later told friends of sighting an immense shark
as it moved slowly past their ship. Whitish in
color, they were awed by its size. It was as long,
if not longer, than their boat! Experienced men of
the sea, they too were certain the creature was
not whale.”
Baby tooth vs adult tooth
Megalodon to great white
• South American connections
Giant Extinct Rodent Was Guinea
Pig Relative
• http://www.scientifica
merican.com/article/gi
ant-extinct-rodentwas/
• http://www.bbc.com/n
ews/scienceenvironment31111843
30 cm incisors
Terror birds
• Terror birds, the family Phorusrhacidae,
were large carnivorous flightless birds.
They were the dominant predators in
South America during the Cainozoic, from
62–2 million years ago.[3] They were
roughly 1–3 meters (3–10 feet) tall. Where
they ruled there were no large mammalian
predators
• Titanis walleri, one of the larger species, is
known from Texas and Florida in North
America. This makes the phorusrhacids
the only known example of large South
American predators migrating north during
the Great American Interchange. This took
place after the volcanic Isthmus of
Panama land bridge rose about three
million years ago
Afraid yet?
Darren Naish has published a new analysis on terror birds,
entitling this one, “Raven, the claw-handed bird, last of the
phorusrhacids.”
TheTitanis was in TexasFlorida 5 million years ago.
So it island hopped/swam north
For it was here before the
Volcanoes completed the
Panama section of Central
America. The strong upper arm
Bones and the wrist structure
Have led some to say it was
Pawed not winged
• Titanis, with its large, ball-like articular
facet, is A, Cariama is F].
• Two key recent claims have made Titanis one of the most famous
and most discussed of all fossil birds. The first is that, rather than
possessing stunted, redundant little wings that were effectively
functionless (bar possible, and unknown, uses in display,
intraspecific combat or in assisting balance), Titanis actually sported
semi-prehensile, clawed hands that probably functioned in
predation. The second is that Titanis survived until far more recently
than all of its South American cousins, and persisted into the
Pleistocene and even well into the Late Pleistocene (a possible
Pleistocene phorusrhacine was reported from Uruguay by Tambussi
et al. (1999), but if it is Pleistocene and not Pliocene it can only be
Early Pleistocene). Let’s think about both of these proposals for a
minute. If Titanis actually had clawed, mobile fingers, then most of
the classic stuff written about phorusrhacid behaviour and habits
(e.g., Marshall 1994) could very well be completely wrong, as rather
than relying on their hindlimbs and/or massive bill to procure and
process prey, this discovery would suggest that manual
apprehension and manipulation played a significant role in
phorusrhacid predatory behaviour. This is radical and might have
made Titanis (and perhaps all phorusrhacines, or even all
phorusrhacids) superficially like Cretaceous non-avian
maniraptorans, like dromaeosaurs. This extremely appealing idea
was not lost on some (Zimmer 1997).
• Secondly, if Titanis was still extant as recently as the Late
Pleistocene (perhaps as recently as 15,000 years ago), then there’s
the possibility that something very interesting happened. Namely,
that people saw this amazing animal…. if, that is, people were
present in south-eastern North America this early (and they were:
e.g., Goebel et al. 2008). A giant predatory flightless bird, over 1.5 m
tall (Titanis has been down-sized in recent years), with a massive
hooked bill and the ability to knock down and eviscerate even quite
large mammals would probably leave quite an impression on the
imagination, to say the least. Might there be any Native American
folklore, mythology or artwork hinting at ancient knowledge of this
giant bird? According to Jaroslav Mare?’s 1997 book Svet
Tajemn�ch Zv�?at, maybe there is, because both the Kwakiutl and
Haida people had stories of Raven, a ‘monstrous giant bird with a
massive hooked beak, long sturdy legs …. and a feathered body –
but possessing front paws with claws, instead of wings!’ (Shuker
2003: I haven’t seen Mare?’s book).
mammals
DOEDICURUS
• Doedicurus (family glyptodontidae) was an
ancient armadillo that lived during the
Pleistocene. This extinct, armored mammal had
four short legs, powerful jaws, with no teeth in
the front and grinding teeth farther back in the
jaws. This glyptodont had a long tail with a mace
at the end. Doedicurus was 13 feet (4 m) long
and 5 feet (1.5 m) tall. Fossils have been found
in Patagonia, South America. It lived with the
terror birds.
• The largest land mammals that ever lived, Indricotherium
and Deinotherium, would have towered over the living
African Elephant. Indricotherium lived during the Eocene
to the Oligocene Epoch (37 to 23 million years ago) and
reached a mass of 15,000 kg, while Deinotherium was
around from the late-Miocene until the early Pleistocene
(8.5 to 2.7 million years ago) and weighed as much as
17,000 kg. Image by NSF RCN IMPPS.
• The maximum size of mammals began to increase
sharply about 65 million years ago, peaking in the
Oligocene Epoch (about 34 million years ago) in Eurasia,
and again in the Miocene Epoch (about 10 million years
ago) in Eurasia and Africa. The largest mammal that
ever walked the earth - Indricotherium transouralicum, a
hornless rhinoceros-like herbivore that weighed
approximately 17 tons and stood about 18 feet high at
the shoulder - lived in Eurasia almost 34 million years
ago.
"The remarkable similarity in the evolution of maximum
size on the different continents suggests that there were
similar ecological roles to be filled by giant mammals
across the globe," said Smith. "This strongly implies that
mammals were responding to the same ecological
constraints."
Resources
• Carboniferous forests
http://taggart.glg.msu.edu/isb200/carbfor.h
tm
Pie cubed ?