12 Extinct Reptiles Formerly World Leaders

12 Extinct Reptiles Formerly World Leaders

Long before mammals began to dominate the world, an amazing dynasty of extinct reptiles swept the planet. From the enormous dinosaurs to the marine leviathan, this was some of the most successful and most impressive life on the planet. In this article, we will take a closer look at the top 12 extinct reptiles that once dominated our planet, and discuss their amazing adaptations and how they left us wanting more.

Tyrannicus Rex

There's no prehistoric reptile list that will be finished without including Tyrannosaurus rex. This Late Cretaceous predator was quite an amazing thing; unquestionably the greatest of all existent dinosaurians. With its large, bone crushing jaws and teeth that could exert upward of 12,800 pounds of force, heavy hind legs, and huge skull, T. rex was the North American continent's top predator at its time. Despite its remarkably small arms that might have been used for copulation (yay) or leverage (yay), its overall body structure was ideally adapted to taking down large herbivores such as Triceratops and Edmontosaurus.

Spinosaurus

As it turns out, T. rex wasn't the largest terrestrial predator ever to walk the earth after all that honor goes to Spinosaurus. This exceptionally eccentric and specialised dinosaur was a semi aquatic predator adapted to life in the rivers of Cretaceous North Africa. Its geometry and its sail like spine continue to be debated as either ornamental, for thermoregulation, or both. Possessing crocodile like jaws and layers of dense bone to control buoyancy, Spinosaurus fed mostly on large fish, and deserved the title of really cool prehistoric animal for doing so.

Argentinosaurus

Argentinosaurus is the benchmark of the giant dinosaurs. One of the largest land animals that has ever lived, this sauropod Although the remains are badly petrified, other evidence points to an incredible length of over 100 feet and a weight of more than 100 tons. A long necked native of Cretaceous Argentina that ate enormous amounts of vegetation by day, and was completely safe from predators because of its unimaginably large size.

Quetzalcoatlus

The Late Cretaceous skies were dominated by what is arguably the largest terrestrial flying reptile yet uncovered, a pterosaur (flying reptile) known as Quetzalcoatlus. With a wingspan the length of a small airplane (up to 36 feet long) it was the largest flying animal to be discovered in the modern age. This extinct reptile likely flew over the North American mainland with great sprawling legs. Scientists are never quite sure exactly how the new species lived, but a carrion eater or predator of small dinosaur species or a filter feeder that dipped its long bill in the water are all viable theories.

Mosasaurus

So as the dinosaurs controlled the continents, the mosasaurs controlled the seas. The biggest of this food chain was Mosasaurus. This was an amazing leviathan and was up to 50 feet long. With a thin anatomy, a powerful tail and jaws full of conical teeth designed to snag fish, turtles and ammonites and perhaps other mosasaurs the giant marine lizard was a pretty formidable predator. It was an invincible beast during the Late Cretaceous

Triceratops

Most recognizable of the dinosaurs of the Mesozoic Era, Triceratops gets its name from the Greek triceros (meaning three horns plus the Greek ops). With this massive body size and its club shaped frill and three facial horns, the herbivore was likely capable of intimidating large carnivores like T. rex, as well as competing with one another, Shapiro said.The parrot beak was perfectly adapted for cutting in very hard cycad or palm.

Ankylosaurus

The Living Tank goes into detail about an amazing living Ankylosaurus. Its tough, scaly plate armour was well developed across its entire dorsal surface and it could wield a massive club like tail that could break the limb bones of any errant theropod. 

Stegosaur

A Jurassic dinosaur genus with a double row of strut plates along the back and conspicuous spikes on the tail bone (thagomizer). The function of the plates has been debated. Temperature control, previsualization, or protection have all been suggested. It has one of the smallest brains in the world weighing in at the weight of a walnut, which only goes to show that whenever we hear big brains are not necessary for evolutionary success, we can refer back to walnuts.

Plesiosaurus 

The Plesiosaurus and its related creatures are the animals which gave rise to the myth behind the Loch Ness Monster. These types of marine reptiles were known for having large, turtle shaped bodies, four flippers and, most obviously, very long necks. They quickly snapped their tiny heads between schools of fish, swooping in to grab onto the fish before they could flee. During the Mesozoic they were an eclectic and successful lot.

Dimetrodon

Dimetrodon was not really a dinosaur but had an important role in the history during his life. The latter was, in fact, not of reptilian but of mammal like (synapsid) origin, apparently closer in type to members of my Opabinotus than to any of the actual longest reaching Permian reptiles. Its large sail was probably used to keep the body temperature up. So including it here illustrates the interesting and complicated branching of the tree of life.

Ichthyosaurus

What Ichthyosaurus turned out to be, through convergent evolution with modern dolphins, is a form almost indistinguishable from it. Specialized to a life in the open sea, these highly streamlined marine reptiles gave birth to live young, and fed on fish and cephalopods. They provide a beautiful example of how nature can come up with very similar solutions to the problem of survival.

Velociraptor

The name has been borrowed from the film world and used for the small Late Cretaceous feathered carnivore popularly called Velociraptor, although the real thing was scarcely any more oversized than a large turkey vulture. This Pliocene mammal was probably a clever, social pack hunter that speared its contemporaneous mammals with a large sickle shaped hooked claw on the tip of each foot. Quite the contrary, evidence from the fossil dinosaur, dubbed the Fighting Dinosaurs, indicates that this dinosaur was definitely an active, dangerous hunter.

Inundated By Stone and Feathers

Alas the era of these great extinct reptiles came to a close, best known for the Cretaceous Paleogene extinction event. But their story is not completely written. The science of paleontology remains a source of thrilling new discoveries, and one group of theropod dinosaurs did not die off birds today are the last living representatives of the most successful lineage of reptiles ever to have walked on the earth.