Some beasts of yore 04

A Titans Waller fights off a rival sabretooth Smilodon

A Titanis Walleri fights off a rival sabertooth Smilodon (art by Julio Lacerda). The Titanis was a genus of terror-birds in North America that had migrated from South America.

They lived from ca 5 to 1.8 million years ago [MYA] and reached a height of 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in). The long legs granted it great speed to hunt down unlucky prey.

Imgur might appriciate that the Giraffidae family once was very diverse. About 7 MYA to 800 thousand years ago the genus Sivatherium grazed from Africa, where it originated, to India.

The species Sivatherium giganteum, above, was among the largest (but not tallest) giraffids, and ruminants, ever. At 3 m (9.8 ft) in total height it is estimated to a weight of 1,250 kg (2,760 lb).

The Tully Monster (Tullimonstrum gregarium) swam in the sea over modern Illinois, US, ca 300 MYA. Despite the name ‘monster' it was merely between 8 to 35 cm (3.1 to 14 in) long.

Stalk-eyed, with a long proboscis [trunk] with teeth and a soft body without bones, the Tully Monster's place in the animal family tree remains a controversial mystery (art by Nobu Tamura).

In the primordial forests of North America hunted the Meganeuropsis, ca 283.5 to 290 MYA. It belonged to the griffinflies, or Meganisoptera, termed to distinguish them from modern dragonflies.

The genus Meganeuropsis contained the largest insects ever seen, with an estimated wingspan of 71 cm (28 in) and a body length of almost 43 cm from head to tail.

Minmi paravertebra was a dinosaur that trudged through floodplains and woodlands of Australia ca 133 to 113 MYA. Reaching 3 m (9.8 ft) in length it was a small ankylosaur (art from Australian Geographic).

Minmi had belly armour, absent in most ankylosaurs, but no dermal armour on the skull, which almost all had. It did not have a clubbed tail, but comparably long legs to flee from hungry theropods.

Deinotherium was a genus related to the modern elephants, yet of a family that diverged early. They lived about 13 to 1 MYA in Europe, Asia and Africa (art by Elke Gröning).

The largest species became 4 m (13.2 ft) tall. The downward tusks are yet a matter of debate; it has been proposed Deinotherium used them to pull down branches or to strip soft bark from trees.

Miracinonyx, known as the American Cheetah, was a genus that sprang across the plains of North America ca 2.6 MYA to 12 thousand years ago (art by by Mauricio Antón). It was presumably closely related to the Cougar, and so is an example of parallel or convergent evolution.

Miracinonyx's body could reach 1,7 m (67 in) in length, add 92 cm (36 in) with the tail, and a shoulder height of 85 cm (33 in); it was thus a bit longer and heavier than a Cheetah.
The Pronghorn, or American antelope, is currently the second fastest mammal on land. It is supposed that it developed this speed to flee from the now long gone Miracinonyx.

For other posts in the series, see https://imgur.com/gallery/Ih99mxw