Prehistoric life
"Its teeth were specially designed for a ‘grip-and-shear’ feeding strategy…" 6 animals able to kill a megalodon, the deadliest shark that ever lived
If you crossed paths with these prehistoric sea monsters out at sea, you’d be wishing for a bigger boat…
It was the size of a car and had claws bigger than your arm – and no other creature like it has ever been found
This 2.6m-long prehistoric predator was the largest arthropod ever known, with enormous claws and the power to dominate ancient seas
"While healthy adults were off the menu for most predators, the old, sick and young often faced grisly ends." 9 animals that could kill giant mammoths
They may be amongst the largest mammals to have ever walked the Earth, but mammoths weren’t exactly free from predation…
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It had a massive 50cm leg span and was hailed as a giant, terrifying prehistoric spider – but scientists got it spectacularly wrong…
It looked like a shark, acted like one and lived 370 million years ago – before even the dinosaurs… but was it the first shark ever? The jury's still out…
Try as they might, palaeontologists have yet to agree on what the first shark actually was…
"It's considered the largest and most ferocious terrestrial predator that has ever lived…" 10 deadliest predators that ever lived
These extinct killing machines are reason enough not to invent time travel…
Mega volcanoes, asteroid impacts and 'the great dying' – 5 deadly mass extinctions that changed life on Earth forever
What is a mass extinction – and how many of them have there been? Will Newton takes a look the 'big five' extinction events
It looked like a horse and acted like one, but this horse was different. The size of a lamb, it was the first horse on Earth and ancestor of all today
It looked just like its modern relatives, but at only the size of a Chihuahua, it wouldn’t have stood a chance in the Grand National
Did this giant, prehistoric 1.8m tall wombat inspire a man-eating mythical monster…?
Most myths are grounded in some kind of reality – the Bunyip is no exception.
It looked like a fox, but this is no fox – or even a member of the dog family. It was in fact a bizarre stepping stone in the evolution of whales – yes really!
It’s hard to imagine the largest animal that’s ever lived - the blue whale - can trace its family tree back to this small, pig-like mammal…
Ancient people found miniature elephant remains and thought they belonged to a monster…
The origins of the cyclops myth haven’t been confirmed – but there are theories.
"It's known for guarding priceless treasures…" The powerful and majestic beast inspired by dinosaurs…
Most myths are grounded in some kind of reality, even those most fantastical…
It didn't much look like a dog – or act like one as it climbed trees like a cat – yet it was the first-ever dog on the planet and the ancestor of all dogs today…
It lived in trees and looked more like a raccoon than a dog - but this miniature furball was the world’s premier pooch and the ancestor of all living canines…
Forget today's cute penguins – this prehistoric monster would have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Hollywood hardman Jason Statham…
Tipping the scales at nearly 160kg, Kumimanu is by far the largest penguin that has ever lived and heavier even than today’s largest living bird, the common ostrich…
What was the first-ever deadly apex predator? Clue – it lived 500 million years ago…
Paul Chamber takes a look at the world's first top predator, who ruled the Earth's waters 500 million years ago
"It resembled a biplane when airborne, with a wingspan that measured a massive 7m across. It was incredibly heavy too; tipping the scales at 72kg"
"It's believed that something went terribly wrong and the mother died while giving birth..." 7 groundbreaking fossil discoveries that changed the world
The trailblazing discoveries that have changed the way we understand life on planet Earth
It looked like a cat and acted like a cat – but this cat was different. It was the first-ever cat on the planet – the ancestor of all cats today…
This isn’t the kind of furball you’d want sitting on your lap…
What if hobbits were real? Meet the tiny human species that actually existed…
Don’t let their small stature fool you - these ‘hobbits’
were among the deadliest predators to stalk their jungle island home.
Did elephants and mammoths co-exist?
Prehistoric insects were absolutely massive. Here's why they needed to be so darn big
Richard Jones explains just why prehistoric insects were so large...
"It could sprint at 40mph and had a huge skull with a deadly-looking, hooked beak and swallowed its prey whole…" 10 deadliest prehistoric birds ever
These early birds certainly caught their worms, and more. Meet some of the deadliest birds that ever lived…
"It could have weighed as much as 10 tonnes, more than double the weight of an African elephant and possibly as much as 14.3 tonnes!"
Discover key facts about the different species of mammoth – where they lived, what they ate, and why they went extinct.
“Some believe that Gibraltar Falls was 1,000 times higher than Niagara Falls.” This could be the largest flood on Earth of all time
The Zanclean Flood, which is theorised to have occurred 5.33 million years ago, refilled the Mediterranean Sea
