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Discoveries in paleontology have revealed many terrifying prehistoric creatures that are now extinct. From South America, there was the Titanoboa, a massive serpent that could reach lengths of up to 40 feet (12 m) and weigh over a ton. It lived in the Paleocene era about 58 million years ago and was at the top of the food chain, preying on crocodiles and turtles twice the size of manhole covers.

Another terrifying creature was Cameroceras, the largest cephalopod ever found. Its hard, keratinous beak could crunch through hard shells and armored exoskeletons, and its tentacles grew from the base of its head. It was the top ocean predator during the middle Silurian period about 24.6 million years ago.

Kaprosuchus was a Cretaceous period reptile that resembled a wingless dragon, with boar-like tusks, a bulky nose, and huge teeth. Although we have only discovered its skull, the public imagination has been captured by the terrifying possibilities of what the rest of the creature could have looked like.

Arthropleura was a seven-foot-long millipede that lived 323 to 299 million years ago in the Carboniferous era. It is the largest arthropod ever discovered, and its size is attributed to the larger amount of oxygen in the atmosphere and higher levels of precipitation at the time. Luckily, this herbivore posed no threat to humans, unless they were crushed by its size or the sheer number of legs that crawled over them.

The Pulmonoscorpius, or “breathing scorpion,” was another creature that lived in the giant rainforests of the Carboniferous era. It was much larger than modern-day scorpions and was equipped with a strong exoskeleton that made it a fierce predator. These and other prehistoric creatures show how terrifying the natural world once was, and how fortunate we are to have evolved alongside less threatening species.