A series of bizarre and unprecedented monsters have emerged from around the globe, revealing that Earth and its complex evolutionary trees remain a vast mystery.
1. The “Hybrid” Sea Monster of the Wyoming Fossil Ocean
The strange serpent-headed lizard from the USA – Photo: Scott Persons, Street & Kelley
With a crocodile-like face, a snake-like neck, a dinosaur body, and large fins resembling those of a bizarre fish, this is the description of Serpentisuchops pfisterae, a completely new species of serpent-headed lizard confirmed by American scientists after 27 years of being “locked away” in a museum due to misclassification.
The research team, led by Dr. Walter Scott Persons IV from the College of Charleston in South Carolina, referred to the creature they reconstructed as “a strange and unique beast, a fusion of two species,” alluding to its crocodile-like face.
According to SciTech Daily, it is essentially a plesiosaur-like serpent-headed lizard that lived approximately 101 to 66 million years ago, featuring a neck that could reach 7 meters long, despite its relatively small body.
2. The “Frankenstein of the Triassic” from Brazil
“Frankenstein of the Triassic” – (Photo: Matheus Fernandes / Universidade Federal de Santa Maria).
According to Sci-News, a nearly complete right-side fossil of a strange creature from the Triassic has helped scientists complete the fossil record and identify a new species that looks like a bizarre mix of various other species. This creature has been named Stenoscelida aurantiacus and belongs to the Proterochampsidae family, a large extinct reptile family endemic to South America.
The research team, led by paleontologist Rodrigo Temp Müller from the Federal University of Santa Maria (Brazil), reconstructed this creature, producing an image of a beast with a massive dinosaur-like body, a crocodile-like head, and limbs resembling those of a muscular human, with feet similar to those of dinosaurs but with five toes on the front feet like a hand, based on research published in November 2021.
3. T-Rex’s Rival
Meraxes gigas – (Photo: Carlos Papolio).
In July 2022, scientists from the Ernesto Bachmann Paleontology Museum and the National University of Río Negro (Argentina) announced a completely new species of dinosaur named Meraxes gigas, weighing over 4 tons and measuring 11 meters in length. It was identified from fossil remains excavated from the Huincul Formation in Las Campanas Canyon, Neuquén Province, Argentina.
Meraxes gigas is a predatory monster that bears a striking resemblance to the Tyrannosaurus rex, with strong hind legs, reduced forelimbs, and a large head equipped with fearsome teeth. The specimen is 94 million years old, indicating it lived during the Late Cretaceous period, which was also the time of the T-rex’s explosion. Although similar and both belonging to a larger group called theropod dinosaurs, it and T-rex belong to two very different branches of the dinosaur family tree.
4. The Giant Bear-Dog in France
The bear-dog from 12 million years ago in France – (Photo: Denny Navarra).
This creature has been named Tartarocyon cazanavei, belonging to the Amphicyonid group, Amphicyonidae family, a unique group of carnivorous mammals characteristic of ancient Europe. This bizarre creature, which roamed France 12 million years ago, appears to be a direct hybrid between a dog and a bear, hence the colloquial name “bear-dog.” It weighed up to 320 kg and was extremely fierce.
This completely extinct lineage was studied by a team of scientists led by Dr. Bastien Mennecart, a paleontologist from the Natural History Museum of Basel (Switzerland), and published online in PeerJ in June 2022.
5. The Otter that Hunted Crocodiles
The monster otter compared in size to modern humans, Australopithecus, and modern otters – (Photo: Université de Poitiers).
This is attributed to the “monster” otter excavated in the Shungura and Usno formations in the Lower Omo Valley – Northwestern Ethiopia, which could grow as large as a lion, weighing up to 200 kg.
Named Enhydriodon omoensis, this monster coexisted with our famous ancestor – Australopithecus – around 3.5 to 2.5 million years ago. It is a new species within the extinct genus Enhydriodon and is the largest otter to have ever walked the Earth. Living alongside rivers, it was capable of hunting and consuming crocodiles, turtles, and more, thanks to its strong teeth and more terrestrial than amphibious characteristics.
