8 recently discovered prehistoric animals that intrigue paleontologists

Fossils are the most solid clues that exist to know what life on Earth was like millions of years ago. Today, paleontologists continue to find remains of prehistoric animals, some already extinct and others that are recent ancestors of those that live today. These discoveries are very important for us to know the past and to understand the paths that humanity has been following.

O incredible.club he gathered some curious cases about species that were recently discovered and about others that, although they were already known, had not been much explored. At the end of the article you will find a bonus with a recently recorded video of a shark that has lived in the depths of the ocean since the age of dinosaurs.

Australian paleontologists have found remains of a giant parrot that inhabited the region, which is now New Zealand, 19 million years ago. They didn’t think twice about naming the new species: Unexpected Heracles🇧🇷 The name is a tribute to the mythological hero known for his strength because the parrot measured almost one meter, weighed 7 kilos and had a super strong beak.

This is the largest parrot ever recorded. Researchers think it was flightless and don’t know if it was a herbivore or used its beak to eat meat. These details of the discovery were recently published in the journal Biology Letters.

The friendly saber-toothed squirrel that appears in the movies The ice Age chasing walnuts had a real ancestor. Researchers from the National University of San Juan, in Argentina, recently found, in Ischigualasto (in the northwest of the country), an identical species that lived 231 million years ago.

It measured about 25 cm, had long tusks and was named Pseudotherium argentinus. The paleontologists wanted to put the name of Scrat, in homage to the character in the films, informed the Agency of Science, Technology and Society of the National University of La Matanza.

Two paleontologists have found a new prehistoric species when reviewing a box of strange fossils at the National Museum in Nairobi, Kenya, marked “hyenas”. They came to the conclusion that it was the remains of a giant mammal that populated the Earth 22 million years ago, and they named it Simbakubwa kutokaafrika, or “The Great African Lion” (translated from the Swajili language).

Despite its name, this animal is not an ancestor of the lion, but is an ancient member of a group of extinct mammals called hyenodontids, which bore some resemblance to hyenas. According to a study published in Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, the species was carnivorous, was larger than a polar bear and had a skull the size of a rhinoceros.

In the Paleocene epoch, the first of the Cenozoic era (between 66 and 55 million years ago) there was a species of penguin that measured 1.60 meters in height and weighed 80 kg, 40 cm larger and twice as heavy as the emperor , the largest penguin that exists today. It was discovered this year in what is now New Zealand and Antarctica. The study was published in the journal Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology🇧🇷

Scientists claim that these animals, called Crossvallia waiparensis, were benefited by the lack of predators after the extinction of the dinosaurs. However, they disappeared as large marine mammals began to dominate the waters.

A body as small as a coin, paws as flat as oars and huge spherical eyes are some of the traits that characterize the Callichima was perplexeda species related to the crab that lived on Earth 95 million years ago and whose remains have been found in Colombia and the United States.

According to a recent paper published in the journal Science Advances, these traits, characteristic of larvae, were conserved in adults through changes undergone by the species over time, in an evolutionary process called heterochrony. “The discovery sheds light on how the forms evolved and how they became so different over time,” said Javier Luque, a paleontologist at Yale University who participated in the research.

Last month, an 11-year-old Brazilian boy found the fossil of a giant crocodile buried on the banks of the Acre River, in the Amazon. “I was fishing with my dad when I suddenly stepped on something that caught my eye. I dug a little and the moment I saw it I thought it was a dinosaur”, said the boy.

What he found was a complete piece of a mandible. Purussaurus, one of the largest crocodiles that ever inhabited the Earth. It lived in South America 13 million years ago, measured 12.5 meters and weighed 8.4 tons. His bite was very strong and he had a very varied diet.

Pterosaurs are known as the first vertebrates to conquer the air thanks to their wings formed by a membrane. At the end of last year, a group of paleontologists from the University of Portsmouth, in England, discovered the fossil of a new species that, unlike the already known species, had huge fang-shaped teeth up to 26 millimeters long.

He was called Klobiodon rochei, a name that means “cage tooth”. “Its large tusks came together to form a cage from which few could escape,” said Michael O’Sullivan, a member of the team that participated in the discovery of this animal that lived on Earth 167 million years ago.

The largest species of dog in history is called the Epicyon haydeni. This dog lived about 16 million years ago, could reach the size of a polar bear, weighed 170 kg and, according to a recent study published in the journal natureattacked its prey as foxes and coyotes do today.

Scientists reached this conclusion after studying the skulls of this and other species in detail. After making a computer model, they discovered that the inner ear of prehistoric animals, an organ that controls balance and hearing, allowed them to create traps when hunting their prey.

O hexanchus griseus It is the oldest shark species in the world. It has been in the ocean depths since before most dinosaurs and survived the Permian-Triassic extinction. Last month, a mission from OceanXa company that explores the oceans, managed to record an incredible video of the shark.

“It was like seeing a tyrannosaurus rex in the water,” said Gavin Naylor, of the Florida Museum of Natural History, in charge of sponsoring the expedition.

Do you like dinosaur movies? What do you think life was like millions of years ago? Share your opinion in the comments.