Awesome Megafauna Skulls!

madsciences:

My last weird and awesome skull post was really popular, so I decided to do one about something else I’m excessively interested in: Megafauna! This isn’t at all a comprehensive list of the coolest ones, not by a long shot, so you should definitely look up some of the BBC docs on Youtube or google ones from your continent!

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The cave bear! (N. America)

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‘Hell Pigs’ (N. America) Actually entelodonts, unrelated to pigs at all and more closely tied to hippos and cetaceans! Dat sagittal crest amirite

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The Stag Moose  @allosauroid brought to my attention that this is the skull of the Irish elk, Megaloceros, not a stag moose! (Eurasia) Which stood 6 foot at the shoulder/withers

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Platybelodon (widespread) Google artist renditions of these guys, you won’t be disappointed

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Barbourofelis! (N. America) Like a smaller smilodon, with much cooler teeth. Look at those incisors!

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Megatherium (S. America) Primitive sloths the size of elephants!

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Titanus Walleri (N. America) Other continents had equally large if not larger ‘terror birds’

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Paraceratherium (Eurasia) One of the largest terrestrial mammals we’ve ever discovered. It was actually a species of hornless rhino! Google artist recs of these guys, too

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Diprotodon (Australia) The largest known marsupial, which was the size of a hippopotamus and stood 6 feet tall

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I saved Glyptodon (S. America) for last, because these things have some of the weirdest skulls I’ve ever seen. They were technically armadillos, but reached the size of a Volkswagen Beetle!