Top Ten Weirdest Prehistoric Creatures

[Takama]

After the discovery of Atopodentatus, I thought it would be fun for us to list what we think are the top 10 weirdest prehistoric creatures out there.

My list:

Atopodentatus: Just look at that face!


Abelisaurs (Carnotaurus): Its tough to choose just one of these creatures with their long legs and hilariously stubby arms.


Therizinosaurus: We know from its cousins that this was one of the weirdest creatures with its pot belly long neck and long claws


Nigersaurus: This ones a given, I mean, what other sauropod dinosaurs looks like a vacuum cleaner?


Helicoprion This is another given. Sharks don't get much weirder.


Pterodaustro: Mainly due to the strainers in its mouth


Tanystropheus: That Bizarrely long neck for a mostly skinny creature


Chalicotherium: Had to put at least one mammal on the list. The horse and gorilla hybrid.


Anomalocaris: Alien looking thing from a primitive world.


Opabinia: Same as Anomalocaris, only its made even stranger with a long appendage coming from its bottom


Those are my ten weirdest Prehistoric creatures. Feel free to post your own.

[dinotoyforum]

Good idea for a new Safari Ltd toob

[Crackington]

Great choices Takama, though I'd have Hallucigenia in my Top 10. Any creature for which scientists couldn't figure out the right way up has got to be a contender for this list. It would also make the Top 10 Best Weird names - far out!

[Gwangi]

Great choices Takama, though I'd have Hallucigenia in my Top 10. Any creature for which scientists couldn't figure out the right way up has got to be a contender for this list. It would also make the Top 10 Best Weird names - far out!

I would suggest that one as well. Also, Platybelodon and Amebelodon and both pretty strange too.

[dinotoyforum]

I'd also swap Pterodaustro for Nyctosaurus as representative weirdo pterosaur. But they are both weird.

[Roselaar]

Here's a few more:

Longisquama:



Incisivosaurus:



Scansoriopteryx:



Gerrothorax:



Henodus:



Hatzegopteryx:

[dinotoyforum]

Oh, yes, Longisquama and Halucigenia get my vote too!

So, I'd condense my own top 10 list as follows.

Tanystropheus
Longisquama
Atopodendatus
Halucigenia
Nyctosaurus
Helicoprion
Opabina
Anomalocaris
Therizinosaurus
Chalicotherium

... long appendage coming from its bottom

Isn't that its head?

[tyrantqueen]

Diplocaulus, Edaphosaurus (it always looked weird to me with its tiny head), and Atlasaurus, with its weirdly proportioned front legs and short neck.



Also, Majungasaurus.

[Spinosaurus Aegyptiacus]

Diplocaulus, Edaphosaurus (it always looked weird to me with its tiny head), and Atlasaurus, with its weirdly proportioned front legs and short neck.

Also, Majungasaurus.

But TQ, apart from being a bit strange, Majunga is simply one of the most awesome looking predators ever.

[tyrantqueen]

But TQ, apart from being a bit strange, Majunga is simply one of the most awesome looking predators ever.

Heh, I don't deny that fact

[tyrantqueen]

Oh, and how about Masiakasaurus?

[Gwangi]

Though we take it for granted, Stegosaurus really is among the strangest prehistoric creatures.

[tyrantqueen]

When you think about it, sauropods are really strange as a whole as well. You can sort of understand why early paleontologists stuck them in swamps for decades, because there is no terrestrial animal alive today that can be compared to them in terms of sheer size. My theory is that, in their minds, the only species they could compare them to was cetaceans, so they must have belonged in the water.

Btw, does Isisaurus really have such an odd "elbow" structure as this illustration suggests?

[tyrantqueen]

Looks like the artist was inspired by our old friend, the Invicta Mamenchisaurus...or maybe both animals visited the same yoga instructor

[Gwangi]

Sauropods are weird, really most of the dinosaurs are weird which is part of their draw but since they're so popular we take them for granted as well.

I find some of the extinct Crocodilians pretty strange too, like Suchodus.


And of course, many of the early whales were very strange.

Kutchicetus

[Newt]

Speaking of whales, how about Odobenocetops, the walrus whale?



A lot of the Permian critters are wacky too.  I like Estemmenosuchus:



And as was mentioned of Stegosaurus, some of the familiar Cenozoic beasts are really weird once you reconsider them, like Deodicurus and Megatherium here:

 

[dinotoyforum]

The more we look the more weirdness we find 

[Roselaar]

Oh my, how could I have forgotten Estemmenosuchus! Really a true weirdo!

[Libraraptor]

What is normal what is strange? Any extinct animal is strange to a certain extend. If I had to choose I´d taken some of the ones mentioned before but add a whale, such as Ambulocetus or Pakicetus to it. One of the strangest ideas evolution had (yes, yes, I know one must not personalize evolution) was making land living animals aquatic ones. And well, someone who is really strange is the Flores man.

[dinotoyforum]

Yes, it is quite a subjective process. Nobody has yet mentioned an elasmosaurid such as Albertonectes. I suppose we are 'used' to their unusual appearance, as with the sauropods.