16 Ancient Animals That Make Us Glad They’re Extinct

Thank an asteroid today.
16 Ancient Animals That Make Us Glad They’re Extinct

In the 4.5 billion years Earth has been around, it's been host to some truly awful beasts. From the enormous snake-like whale that ate sharks, to the tiny walking worm covered in spikes, nature is truly the worst. 

BRONTORNIS Dead for 1.8 million years. 10', 000 LBS GRACKED.COM Colloquially named 'Terror Birds' for a reason, brontornis belongs to a genus of enormous, flightless birds that roamed South America. These giant raptors used their beaks like a cudgel, swinging the head at the end of their long necks down like an axe to wound and tear apart prey.

Source: BBC

PLATYBELODON Dead for 5 million years. 20'LONG,9,000 LBS CRACKED.com Too lazy to use a trunk to bring food to its mouth, so it brought its mouth to the food. Platybelodons were early ancestors of elephants with fused lower tusks that acted either like a shovel or a saw, but definitely made them look like demonic platypus-hippos.

Source: NPR

HALLUCIGENIA Dead for 488 million years. 2LONG CRACKED.COM It put those legs to good use and walked right into our nightmares. This small ocean dweller's fossilized remains baffled scientists so much they had a hard time finding its head from its ass. A half-billion years separate this cactus-spiked tapeworm from modern man, but it still doesn't seem like enough.

Source: BBC

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