Neogene Animals, Megalodon & Ancient Mammals

341Cenozoic

Deep jaws and slicing teeth suggest an ancient kangaroo relative that ate meat.

342Cenozoic

A bear-like carnivore used powerful jaws to pry and crush shellfish.

344Cenozoic

Grasping feet and flexible shoulders reveal a large climbing marsupial.

358Cenozoic

Its wedge-shaped skull belonged to an ancient amphibian lineage separate from frogs and salamanders.

378Cenozoic

Its skeleton was once mistaken for a human killed in the biblical flood.

404Cenozoic

Its pleated bell cap may have deliquesced like a modern inkcap.

405Cenozoic

A golden-brown cap retained three-dimensional gills in amber.

406Cenozoic

Radial striations remained visible across a minute translucent cap.

452Cenozoic

A skull over a meter long belonged to a dominant Miocene caiman.

459Cenozoic

Three meters tall with a massive beak, it was among the heaviest birds.

460Cenozoic

A seventy-centimeter skull and hooked beak armed one of the largest terror birds.

470Cenozoic

Massive jaws and rounded carnassials crushed bone, though it was not a modern hyena.

471Cenozoic

Huge cutting teeth came from a hyaenodont predator heavier than a modern lion.

496Cenozoic

Brontornis burmeisteri was a giant flightless bird with exceptionally robust hind limbs.

541Cenozoic

A deep beak and massive legs made a heavyweight South American terror bird.

542Cenozoic

A lighter terror bird had long toes suited to rapid pursuit.

543Cenozoic

Its complete inner ear reveals sensitivity to relatively low-frequency sound.

548Cenozoic

A hornless, long-limbed rhinoceros was built for travel across open woodland.

569Cenozoic

A horse-like head and enormous curved claws belonged to a herbivorous perissodactyl walking on its knuckles.