While there was much excitement going on in farther places, things were a bit duller in Dinosaur City. Considering the pandemic still going on, Dinosaur City couldn't put on the same kind of spectacular they did last year. It was rather frustrating how many Texans ignored basic public health protocols. Besides, running from 'dinosaur mutants' was not nearly as terrifying if the the dinosaurs were wearing masks. But at least they were setting up a virtual tour to display some of the scariest animals in prehistoric times.
Arthropleura could be the largest invertebrate that walked on land, its long, many-legged body reaching 8.5 feet in length. However, this ancient creature was actually a millipede, which are completely harmless. The largest extinct centipede may have been Euphberia which was only 3 feet long, but still big enough to scare people.
When it came to prehistoric spiders, fossils found tended to be as small if not smaller than modern tarantulas. Currently the only large specimens found had a leg span of no more than 5 inches. But at one point, an arachnid fossil had been found that was assumed to be a 21-inch long giant spider and was named Megarachne. However, upon a more complete fossil of it being discovered, it was determined that it was actually a sea scorpion instead of a true spider. Incidentally, the largest sea scorpion was Jaekelopterus, which was the largest arthropod ever found, bigger than even Arthopleura. So sea scorpions are nothing to make light of either.
For those who found frogs and toads creepy, Beelzebufo would probably haunt their dreams. The African bullfrog can about 9.1 inches long and was known to eat anything it could fit into its mouth, including smaller frogs. Beezlebufo fossils have been found of the same length, but there was evidence that they could grow even bigger. It also had a larger mouth and a bite force between 500 and 2200 N. As such, it fed upon relatively large prey, possibly even juvenile dinosaurs.
But probably the real nightmare among these ancient animals was Titanoboa. It was hard to compete with a giant snake that was 42 feet long and weighed 2500 lbs. It was doubtlessly the apex predator of prehistoric Columbia. While it was unlikely they would ever cross paths, it was theorized that a Titanoboa could have brought down a Tyrannosaurus if it got the jump on it and wrapped around its torso. Of course, if Tyrannosaurus had gotten its jaws on Titanoboa first, it would have been game over.
There has been some question of whether there would be a Titanoboa Animalian. But considering the scarcity of fossils and the fact that there were already large snake Animalians, that seemed very unlikely. Even so, Dinotopians were hardly the giants that their extinct counterparts were, so a Titanoboa Animalian was likely to be much bigger than an anaconda Animalian.
While it didn't quite measure up to last year's event, Dinosaur City was promising they'll do better next year when there isn't a quarantine to worry about.