I was inspired by Saurio and am bored so I thought I’d post my all time favorite animals from different groups and times. Idk this might cause a chain reaction who knows
10. Deinonychus.
A giant and stocky ground hawk with a head like a Komodo dragon, as massive as a big jaguar, had big claws, razor sharp teeth AND would’ve mobbed larger prey up to 7 its size in huge groups and covered in feathers, making it both terrifying and elegant. The animal solely responsible for our view of dinosaurs today, THE inspiration for the Jurassic Park “Velociraptors”, how could I not have it on the list
9. Baryonyx.
A 2 tonne stork and bear mixture of death with huge and beefy arms with a neat little crest at the top of its head, with a name that literally means heavy claw. Had a head capable of quick and rapid movements to easily react to swimming fish and stab them with its gigantic recurved claws and gulping them up with its recurved teeth. Cool animal, my absolute favorite spinosaur and piscovore in general.
8. Pliosaurus.
A giant macropredatory marine reptile with huge jaws and hilariously huge flippers for propelling itself at prey and slamming into it like a 9 tonne great white shark and crocodile hybrid. These guys are unrivaled in the ocean and other predators would’ve been mere snacks to it. Very sick, my favorite marine animal.
7. Ceratosaurus.
A unique and underdog theropod that lived in forest environments, using its sleek profile to swiftly move around, coming equipped with a massive skull with big teeth to deliver quite bites to smaller prey, adorned with very aesthetic and elaborate crests and covered in osteoderms. Also somehow managed to live alongside and even outlive its more macropredatory and impressive contemporaries, Allosaurus and Torvosaurus.
6. Allosaurus.
Speaking of Allosaurus, here it is. The giant truck sized macropredator with broad jaws and beefy arms, that frequently engaged in combat with each other and their prey, capable of surviving some gruesome injuries, had large, uniquely shaped crests and dominated the open areas of its environment despite so much competition. THE Jurassic theropod. Also Broken Jaw>>>>
5. Deinosuchus.
Ah yes, the (at least) bus sized pseudosuchian that dominated the western interior sea with massive jaws, a bulky and armored body and an ambush tactic that still persists to this day in its modern relatives. The iconic leap out of the water and drag large prey to drown it. Coolest shit ever, but on a gigantic scale. This thing hunted everything, from tyrannosaurs, to hadrosaurs. Absolute beast.
4. Acrocanthosaurus.
A truly remarkable animal in a group of cool animals. Talking a beefy 6+ tonne carnivore with massive neural spines that would’ve gave it a sleek hump that would’ve gave it more muscle power. While coming with a meter long skull full of sharp teeth for tearing arteries, ripping muscles and causing massive blood loss to take down the biggest land animals ever, sauropods. Acrocanthosaurus extremely common W
3. Giganotosaurus.
Similar to Acrocanthosaurus but taken to the extreme, contending for the title of the largest land predator ever it simply outclasses its relatives. A relatively sleek giant with a swift yet powerful neck to move its giant head that had a lever mechanism to close its giant jaws at a surprising speeds and a robust lower jaw that resembles a chin that it would’ve used to handle high stresses of taking such huge quarry. This thing would’ve ate sauropods for breakfast and absolutely dominated its environment in South America.
2. Carnotaurus.
Oh boy, if this thing was alive today. It would be a nightmare. I mean, we’re talking about a rhino sized bipedal predator, with a very short and stout head, and bull horns on the top of its head like no other meat eating animal on record, with tiny arms that could swivel and likely danced with them like a giant bird of paradise. This animal in general a very unique appearance and lifestyle. Let’s not forget its sleek body and long legs that would’ve allowed it to move up to 30mph. Even Usain Bolt couldn’t escape it. This thing most likely would’ve chased down smaller prey, bobbing its head like a bird from hell to track prey, run them down and possibly hit the poor victim with its head and then hammered it with quick and powerful bites. Gruesome
1. Tyrannosaurus.
I don’t care what anyone says about it. This is the animal ever. A huge tyrannosaurid theropod that came all the way from Asia to North America, and then proceed to take over and warp the ecosystem. Causing the local herbivores to become so extreme compared to their relatives and asking for a predator in a league of its own to hunt them. Dominating so hard no other land predators around at the time even got close to its size as to not compete with it. At different growth stages they completely changed morphology, from sleek juveniles with long legs and slender jaws to huge adults with big heads and huge torsos. A beast, that was built extremely stocky and wide, with a massive barrel shaped chest, growing up to 10 tonnes. Came equipped with a huge 500kg+ head with a meter long skull that could slam shut and produce forces of over 6 tonnes capable of crushing a car with easy and puncturing metal, avery large foward facing eyes that would’ve allowed it to see astonishingly and quick rapid movement to react quickly, with low rotational inertia to turn very quickly, constantly battering each other in intraspecific combat by biting the faces and heads of one another. Even had a condition in its feet where it expelled as little energy as possible, combined with massive air sacs could run for very long distances and tire prey out to crush their skulls with a completely unrivaled amount of bite force of any terrestrial animal. It’s such an absurd carnivore, even in the group of the largest carnivores to walk the planet. Only reason it died is because of something from space lmao. Also the fact this absolutely absurd animal lived in areas of what is now my country is just fucking uber based.
Long live the king.
