Millions of years ago, the Earth underwent a dramatic transformation when a meteorite impact wiped out the dinosaurs, paving the way for the rise of new colossal creatures.
The giants of prehistory, often overshadowed by their dinosaur predecessors, now take centre stage in the "Giants" exhibition at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Brussels, which opened on Friday 20 October and will run until 25 August 2024. A captivating showcase which invites visitors on a journey through time, spanning the Paleogene to the Quaternary, and introduces eleven magnificent creatures that once roamed the Earth.
What are the Giants?
From the largest mammal to ever walk the Earth, the Paraceratherium, to the awe-inspiring Otodus megalodon, the mightiest shark in history, and the Gigantopithecus blacki, an Asian primate equivalent in size to three orangutans, "Giants" offers an opportunity to explore the lives, advantages, and reasons for the extinction of these remarkable beings.
The Paraceratherium, weighing a colossal 17 tons and stretching nine meters in length with a shoulder height of five meters, was a prehistoric rhinoceros that dominated the landscape from 34 to 23 million years ago. Its immense size, coupled with a diet that required up to a ton of food per day, allowed it to thrive in an era when predatory animals were relatively smaller. This size advantage also translated into a slower pace of life, energy conservation, and the ability to cover vast distances.
While terrestrial giants like the Paraceratherium held sway in prehistory, it's the marine realm that boasts the ultimate giants.
The Perucetus, a colossal Peruvian whale weighing between 170 and 300 tons, lived 39 million years ago, and the current blue whale, both exemplify the boundless gigantism achieved by marine mammals. Buoyed by the aquatic environment, they could reach unprecedented sizes without the constraints of gravity. Such gigantism allowed them to accumulate fat reserves, a necessity for enduring periods of food scarcity.
The Giants exhibition also features the prehistoric sperm whale, Livyatan, which weighed a staggering 45 tons. With its colossal scissor-like teeth, it could capture and devour other whales, exemplifying the advantages of immense size in the predator-prey dynamic. Large animals can accumulate more reserves to survive lean times and experience longer lifespans, fostering intelligence and complex social structures, as seen in modern-day elephants.
However, despite their apparent advantages, giants are far from invulnerable. Larger creatures are more fragile and susceptible to even minor changes in their environment, food resources, or climate. Their specific adaptations and dietary needs make them less flexible when conditions shift.
Changing worlds
The exhibition underscores the precarious nature of gigantism in the natural world. While some giants, like humans, exhibit adaptive gigantism, readily adjusting to changes in their surroundings and diets, others become extinct when their ecological niches transform. Vegetation changes, climate shifts, or the encroachment of human activities have spelled doom for various giants throughout history.
Today, the world's largest land mammals, such as rhinoceroses, hippos, and elephants, face threats from human activity and climate change. The necessity of consuming massive quantities of plants daily makes these giants highly vulnerable to fluctuations in vegetation. As ecosystems and food chains are altered, the survival of these remarkable creatures hangs in the balance.
In the ever-changing and interconnected web of life, the fate of giants, past and present, serves as a stark reminder of the profound impact of environmental shifts. As the "Giants" exhibition delves into their stories, it encourages reflection on our responsibility to protect and preserve the majestic creatures that still grace our planet today.
