10 Terrifying Prehistoric Animals That Weren't Dinosaurs

By John Kuroski | Edited By Savannah Cox

Published February 19, 2015

Updated November 7, 2023

Megalodon

Actual megalodon tooth compared to teeth from a great white shark. Image Source: Wikipedia

This enormous, extinct shark species has become one of the most well-known prehistoric creatures, perhaps second only to the T. rex.

By far the biggest species of shark to have ever existed, the megalodon is generally thought to have looked similar to the modern great white. However, while a great white shark can grow to be 20 feet long and more than 7,000 pounds, megalodon was estimated to be 60 feet in length, weighing anywhere from 50 to 100 metric tons.

Megalodon only died off about 2.6 million years ago. This means that it often interacted with (and by “interacted,” we mean “ate”) animals that are still around today, like giant sea turtles, porpoises, and even whales.

Check out Shark Week’s coverage of the monstrous megalodon:

Next up: The largest creature ever to fly…

author

John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.

editor

Savannah Cox holds a Master's in International Affairs from The New School as well as a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and now serves as an Assistant Professor at the University of Sheffield. Her work as a writer has also appeared on DNAinfo.

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Kuroski, John. "10 Terrifying Prehistoric Animals — That Weren’t Dinosaurs." AllThatsInteresting.com, February 19, 2015, https://allthatsinteresting.com/terrifying-prehistoric-creatures. Accessed February 5, 2025.