When you imagine oceanic predators of our planet’s prehistoric oceans, something like a giant shark likely comes to mind. However, a new discovery of fossils in North Greenland has revealed it may have been gigantic, carnivorous worms that ruled the planet’s ancient waters.
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00:00When you imagine oceanic predators of our planet's prehistoric waters, something like
00:08this likely comes to mind.
00:09However, a new discovery of fossils in North Greenland has revealed it may have been gigantic
00:14carnivorous worms that ruled the planet's ancient waters.
00:18This is an artist's rendering of what researchers are now calling Temurabestia copri, or what
00:23translated from Latin means terror beast.
00:25The creatures were around a foot long, meaning they were not only giants by worm standards,
00:30but also giants for their day.
00:32In fact, they swam around Earth's ocean some 518 million years ago, which was during the
00:37Cambrian explosion, or likely before many of the more complex animals roamed the planet.
00:42With the researchers writing, quote, Temurabestia were giants of their day and would have been
00:46close to the top of the food chain.
00:48That makes it equivalent in importance to some of the top carnivores in modern oceans,
00:53such as sharks and seals back in the Cambrian period.
00:56In fact, inside the bellies of the fossils of these creatures, paleontologists have found
00:59arthropod remains, the eventual food chain leaders later.
01:03Meaning these worms, which preyed on the ancestors of insects, spiders, and crustaceans, likely
01:07sat at the very top of the food chain in what the researchers call worm world.