ExtinctZoo - The Only Predators To Dominate The Dinosaurs

Episode Date: January 11, 2025

When you think of the biggest and baddest group of animals to ever live, you likely imagine the dinosaurs. And why wouldn’t you? They were the largest land carnivores and herbivores to ever live. So, it may then surprise you that dinosaurs were actually at one point in their existence ruled by a much less famous group of animals…

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Tap the banner to learn more and get a quote at usaa.com slash bundle. Restrictions apply. The non-avian dinosaurs were one of the most infamous and successful groups of animals to ever live, being responsible for the largest terrestrial carnivores and herbivores of all time. And while size does go a long way in nature, they were also extremely diverse in their tools and weapons, all of which helped them to establish one of the longest reigns known to paleontology, lasting for over 150 million years and leading some to dedicate an entire geological era towards them, as the Mesozoic, which covers the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous,

is often nicknamed the Age of Dinosaurs. And yet, there was actually a time during this era, specifically the Triassic, when the Earth was actually not ruled by dinosaurs. For a portion of it, they hadn't yet devolved. And then even once they did, they had to endure millions of years of living in the shadows of another, just as the mammals had to under them. As it was during the Triassic, that a notorious group of predators emerged, who pushed the limits on ferocity and are the only animals known to have dominated the non-avian dinosaurs in every environment that they shared. These were the Rauysukians. Ironically, they happened to belong to the exact same taxonomic clade that dinosaurs fall under,

the Arcasoria. But instead of being a part of the division that includes birds and their extinct relatives, they instead belong to the Sudo-Sukians, which include crocodilians and their extinct relatives. It is believed that Rawi-Sukians first emerged some 249 million years back during the early Triassic, and currently consists of 39 different genera who are defined as Triassic's Sudo-Sukians, who are usually extremely large, predatory, and quadrupedal, though many exceptions to these rules exist. And today, the group is often described.

as being informal, meaning it's paraphyphaletic rather than a well-defined group. But what is well-defined is that these creatures were pretty crazy, because out of every land predator to ever emerge, it was them who came closest in size to rivaling the immense statured seen in giant thereopods, with most of them having fallen between 4 to 6 meters or 13 to 20 feet in length, comparable to the size of giant crocodiles. And many got even larger than this, with some like the post-esucas, arguably the most famous of the bunch,

breaking 7 meters or 23 feet, and rendering it the largest predator within its environment. And somehow even it was outsized by certain relatives, such as the Sarosukas and Prestasukas, who could both reach 7.5 meters or 25 feet, which already makes them bigger than all terrestrial mammalian carnivores alive or extinct. And thanks to these sizes, Rowisukians were almost always the largest threats you could find in a Triassic setting, and were well beyond the size of any known triassic predatory dinosaur. And in a few places, they happen to be the biggest megafauna period, a trend especially common towards the early Triassic, when large herbivores were more rare, a courtesy of the giant extinction event that had taken place just prior. Funnily enough, though,

it was only when Rawi Sukians lost the title of being the largest animals in their environment that the biggest member came to be, who also happens to retain the title of the largest non-dinosaur predator to ever walk the earth. And this was the Vesolosucas. This behemoth of Rauwisukian hailed from northwestern Argentina, where during the Norian stage it terrorized the lands with its monstrous size. Even the smaller specimens belonging to this genus were thought to have been larger than every other Rauwisukian minus 1, while the larger individuals run a whole other level, as they possibly grew to be 3.1 tons and 10 meters or 33 feet long, so literally bigger than some of the most famous theropods known, like Gorgosaurus, Majungosaurus, and Carnatoris, just to name a few.

I should also mention that with these stats, the Fasolusucas was not only far bigger than any terrestrial predator conjured up by mammals than really every other terrestrial carnivore to arise in general after the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs, with the largest post-dinosaur predator being the brinacusukas, which was only a bit over half the weight of Fasolosucas. So you can bet that with this size,

everything in its environment bowed down to it, including a variety of dinosaurs, like the Coloradoosaurus, palvinator, and zoopers. And by this point, dinosaurs had already been on the scene for roughly 13 million years. And while they weren't the rulers yet, they had undergone impressive diversification, which included the evolution of saropods, who, perhaps unsurprisingly, became prey for the Fasolusuccus. Namely, it is believed that Lesemosaurus, one of the most basal saropods, was one of the main

food items for Fasolosucas, and might have been a partial reason, its immense size, since it was also quite the behemoth, with individuals weighing 7 tons. And as we know, big prey usually means seriously big predators. And unfortunately for the Lassimsaurus, the threat of a Fasolosucas would be fast emerging. As studies in the bones of this Rawi-Sukian suggested rapid growth rates, a trait often seen in other Rwisukians as well, and their growth patterns were actually typically faster than what was seen in dinosaurs, just giving them another advantage. Now, to actually take down a sarapod, paleontologists believed that Fasolusuchus would have utilized

its titanic skull, which alone was about the size of a person, and not to mention, filled with very large sharp teeth, which it used to rip off huge amounts of flesh leading to rapid blood loss in shock. These teeth are also what made Rwisukins in general such tough adversaries for early dinosaurs, even if they weren't all three tons, as their designs were unusually long, extremely sharp, and a bit curved, allowing them to act sort of like saber. and dish out crazy amount of damage with minimal force. And this is perhaps best demonstrated by the Sarosukas,

one of the biggest Rauysukians, and also one of the better studied ones. And of course, in typical Rawi-Sukian fashion, it had a giant head, about the length of a medium-sized dog. And yet, recent research on its bite uncovered that it was actually relatively weak, as in only as strong as the bite of a modern gharial, who are not only smaller, but also specialized in catching fish, not crushing or tearing. However, because the teeth were just so well adapted for cutting,

scientists still think that it was the undisputed apex predator and hunted large-bodied prey by shearing off chunks of flesh, with the only real drawback being that it might have had to leave some meat on the bones, which proved too hard to reach. And now, while it is likely that at least some of the other Rauysukians had a weaker bite, not everyone is convinced that all Rauysukians had universally weak jaws,

and the emerging idea is that even, each one had a pretty different kind of bite, allowing the group to develop a variety of feeding techniques, with some being able to shred large, tough prey, while others went for vulnerable, soft, smaller animals. This range is what led to them preying on virtually every kind of animal the Triassic offered, which in addition to dinosaurs at certain points,

included dysenodonts, non-archosaur reptiles, and even other pseudosukians. And despite occasionally being divided by the functions of their teeth and prey, what did unite the vast majority of Rawi-sukians, was another advantage they held over Triassic dinosaurs, and that was armor. Like their ancestral descendants of today, i.e. crocodilians, Raui-Sukians sported osteoderms across their bodies, which were bony deposits that formed mainly in plates, and were positioned typically along their backs,

necks, and sometimes above and under the tail. Compared to other animals with osteoderms, Rauysukians had some pretty thick ones, even thicker than what's seen in crocodiles. So kind of overkill, since crocodiles themselves are known to already be highly resistant to cuts, slashes, and abrasions. Furthermore, Rawi-Sukean osteoderms could either be arranged in one or two rows, and were oddly not always symmetrical, perhaps in order to give each individual a unique appearance for social identification purposes. What's more is that in this group, armor would come in different shapes and sizes, with some like the Prestasukas, sporting osteoderms that were heart-shaped, of all things.

But let me tell you, these were not for spreading love, with their main purpose, of course, being defense. But since these guys were already the kings in their environments, it's hypothesized that the osteoderms weren't a deterrent for coexisting dinosaurs or other archosaurs, but rather for competing Rauysukians. This would also make sense considering that the osteoderms were concentrated on the top of their bodies, and given their size, these were inaccessible to most other predators, minus the other Ravisukians. However, not every Rauwisukian had the luxury of armor, and a small handful opted for just tough skin, with one of them being the Yungosukis, a relatively smaller member that lived in what is today China, and might not have needed as much armor due to a relatively nimble skeletal structure to provide agility and speed. Another armorless Rauysukian was the Arizonosaurus, who, as you probably can guess it,

lived in Arizona. But when you take a look at this archisor, the lack of osteoderms is probably not. what you first notice, but rather its sail. Yes, just like dinosaurs, Rauysukians could grow sails. A crazy case of convergent evolution that might have occurred due to the hot temperatures seen in the Triassic, with a global average being twice as warm as it is today, and therefore is believed that the sale could have aided in thermoregulation. And it actually wasn't the only one who evolved the sail, with other sailed Rauysukians,

including the Tenoosauruscus, Brahmsgrovia, and Hypsiluracus. And of course, thermoregulation may not have been the only purpose behind the sails, with another popular idea being that they were used for social display. And while these biological structures definitely made them quite a funky bunch among the Rwisukians, they definitely were not alone in their weirdness, as you also genera like Chiano Sukis, who had no sail, but was semi-aquatic. In fact, it's actually the only Rawi-Sukian thought to be competent in water, despite many of them looking like giant crocs.

and tail remains belonging to Chiano-Succas show that it had a large, laterally compressed tail and tall neural spines, which indicates powerful aquatic propulsion. Other water-friendly adaptations included, reduced dermal armor, and an elongated neck, perhaps for catching fish, and yet it still retained unspecialized legs, suggesting that if it wanted to, it could still very much walk on land. But thankfully for any vacationing time travelers, it was not the biggest predator out there, and it didn't even bother with freshwater sources, instead inhabiting the shallow warm seas at the time,

making them eerily similar to another staple of the Triassic, the Nothosaurus. But despite its crocky-like appearance, Nothosaurus was not a Rahuasukian, but it again brings to light how this group seemed to have a superpower for convergent evolution. And this wasn't even the most striking case, as ironically, there were actually Rauysukians

that evolved features that made them resemble those who lived in their shadows. Theropods. Now, remember what I said about them usually being quadrupedal? Well, like I said, there's exceptions, and some Rauwisukians decided to break that loose rule, with a few developing bipedal locomotion, as seen in the Shuvosaurus, aphigia, papasaurus, and silasucous. And it wasn't just walking on two legs that made them theropod-like, as these genera typically had reduced hands, dinosaur-like hips,

and skull structures similar to certain thermosophos. Pteropods, making it not so hard to see why for a while, paleontologists thought they were actually theropods. Yet, of course, we now know that they weren't, due to their crew of Tarzan ankles and pillar erect stances. And interestingly enough, none of these theropod lookalikes actually lived with fully fledged dinosaurs, instead coexisting with primitive dinosaur forms, who could, though, be bipedal as well. And in true Rauwisukian fashion, it was also them who became the closest two-legged thing in size to giant theropods. Now, not all of them did this, as the aphigia and papasaurus were both on the smaller side,

but the Silasukas was a true monster, even rivaling the measurements of the Fasolosucas, as a located hip and hind limb suggested a matured length of up to 10 meters or 33 feet, while standing about 2.5 meters or 8.2 feet tall, kind of making the barionics its theropod twinsie. Although, while it was equal in length to Fasolusucas, it wasn't nearly as heavy, due to its lighter skeletal build, and estimates give it a weight of around two tons. Furthermore, it wasn't the meanest Rawi-Sukian around either, as it broke another Rauysukian rule, and that was, diet. Because opposed to most Rauysukians that were hyper-carnavores, this guy was actually a herbivore, having a toothless beak that allowed it to shear leaves off trees.

And it wasn't the only leaf feeder either, since other bipedal genera, like the aphigia, were herbivores as well. Nowposaurus, on the other hand, was still very much a carnivore, who was likely a fast agile hunter, just like small predatory theropods. And perhaps surprisingly for those who watched walking with dinosaurs, another potential carnivorous two-leggar was the post-esucas, with some arguing that it was committed to bipedalism full-time, and others thinking it was more of a half-and-half kind of reptile. This evolution of bipedalism in Rwisukians may have granted the user's better vision

in order to help it find prey or food. Or its purpose could have purely been for locomotion, but that's not to say that the Ravisukians who remained quadrupedal were slow pokes. To some they may come across as just big old crocodiles, but you have to remember that these apex predators were mainly terrestrial, and thus sported well-developed legs that were long, and more importantly, positioned beneath their bodies, rather from them sticking out at the sides, as we see in modern crocodilians.

This let them be rather efficient walkers and runners on land, with located tracks in Europe, belonging to the Rauysukian, Tysonosucas, suggesting a speed of around 12 kilometers or 7 miles an hour while moving, which is a bit faster than a human's jog, and fast enough to catch many triassic animals. But here's the thing. Researchers also don't know if the tracks represented an animal in full sprint or just fast walking,

so it's very possible that faster speeds were attained. Additionally, in Raui-Sukians, the front limbs tend to be shorter and lightly built, even in the fully quadrupedal ones, reiterating again that these carnivores were more agile and nimble than one's thought, and not some lumbering land crocks. It was this combination of diverse locomotion, size, teeth, and armor that made the Rawi-Sukians the true kings of the Triassic and rulers over the dinosaurs. However, dinosaurs weren't always subjected to their rule, because as mentioned, they hadn't yet devolved in the early Triassic, and currently we think that they appeared some 233 million years ago,

so about 16 million years after the Rwisukians. And this was likely a big reason why the latter were so ahead, because, as they say, first come, first served. But honestly, when considering this, dinosaurs made some pretty remarkable headway within a short period of time. As saropotomorphs achieved remarkable sizes, and some theropods, like the herarasaurus, and gogerosurus, and gogeriore. Herosaurus became quite big too, both measuring six meters or 20 feet in length. Regardless, that still wasn't enough to overthrow the Rauysukians, with both coexisting with far larger adversaries, including the Fosolosucas in the case of hererosaurus. And this power over dinosaurs is clearly seen in fossil records,

as most of the time dinosaurs only account for a handful of the animals with an environment, usually making up no more than 10% of the population, with the larger carnivorous ones being especially far and few between. On the flip side, smaller dinosaurs did do a bit better, with one of the most successful ones being the Silophysus, a speedy little theropod that was no heavier than an Australian cattle dog, who used its quickness to establish a niche typically not occupied by pseudosukians. Theropods and dinosaurs in general also appear to have capitalized on the Earth's colder environments,

where Rawi-Sukians tended to be less abundant. But even then, at least one or two genera could still be found, who held the title of Apex Predator. And this seemingly endless presence was a side effect of the continents being arranged in the supercontinent Pangaea during the Triassic, leading to Rwisukians being found on every landmass except Antarctica. Back then, the world was also different in most other ways, too. For example, a good portion of it being straighted up a super desert. The odd river or lake within this vast dryness would have led to a good amount of prey for Rauysukians. and also showed off their prowess, as droughts happened to be extremely common,

and when they would occur, Rawi-Sukian fossils became more and more abundant, which implies that they easily took over dwindling water sources and remained the last one standing. Some paleontologists further believe that the Raui-Sukians achieved this upper hand thanks to gregarious behavior, as a fugionera are known to typically be found in groups,

best seen in the Dekuria-Sukas, who was actually discovered in a grouping of nine individuals. So with so much seemingly on their side, things really weren't looking that good for dinosaurs, and the future of Earth appeared to be set in stone. However, in an ironic twist of fate, something which would one day topple the dinosaur's own reign, actually came in and saved them, a mass extinction event. Many people forget that the Mesozoic experience not one, but two of the big five die-offs, including the lesser-known Triassic Jurassic-Durassic extinction.

It is believed that this event took place about 201.4 million years ago, and had devastating impacts on life. The details are still a bit blurry, but the leading idea is that this catastrophe was caused by the eruption of the Central Atlantic Magnetic Province, or Camp for short, Earth's largest continental Ignais province, which covers an area greater than Canada. It's thought that this eruption, or technically eruptions, took place over a 600,000-year period, and included four distinct pulses. that together killed three-fourths of all species, including a huge amount of pseudosukians.

And you can bet that the Rawi-Sukians did not get off lightly, as it was in the midst of this Doomsday event that every single genera vanished, leading to a world void of top predators and opening the figurative doors wide open for theropods and dinosaurs overall. Now, why the Rwisukians died and the dinosaurs didn't, is another mystery not yet fully understood. But many ideas have been suggested, including that because they were typically found in colder places, dinosaurs were already better adapted for the cold,

allowing them to better bear the climatic effects brought on by the volcanic eruptions. Others think the answer was a bit more plain, with dinosaurs simply having been faster at evolving, or that it was just dumb luck. But whatever the case, it's obvious that they emerged victorious in the early Jurassic, and setting the stage for one of the most impressive dynasties of all time. Thanks for watching and until next time. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars.

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