Foto: Adobe Stock/Daniel Eskridge
Millions of years ago there were already big black coats. Michael Werner has dealt with the history of the “Urkeiler”.
The grassland resembles a battlefield! An area the size of a football field is littered with blood, shreds of flesh and broken bones, interspersed with bloody remains of fur, shattered skulls and steaming entrails. Blood runs in narrow rivulets between the sod and collects in muddy puddles. The horses stood no chance as the hungry pack’s well-coordinated attack ensued! The almost unimaginable muscle power alone would probably have been enough to wipe out half the herd of herbivores. A bite from the huge jaws could break the bones, the strength of the huge neck muscles was enough to break the victim’s spine by shaking wildly. But these attackers weren’t just strong, they were fast – and damn intelligent. They were… killer pigs, over two meters high and weighing up to 1,000 kilograms!!!
Photo: Adobe Stock/Ralf Jürgen Kraft
Like an XXL boar on anabolic steroids and speed!
If the thought of a 2,000-pound killer pig makes you think about buying a .50 BMG caliber weapon, I’ll disappoint you. You missed the killer pigs. In geological time, just under 37 to 16 million years, but long enough that the entelodonts never encountered humans. A very reassuring thought for all non-hunters, as these huge, pig-like mammals were about the same size as today’s grizzly bears and could reach a weight of up to 1,000 kilograms!
These creatures were true killing machines and fed on a variety of animals, including mammals, reptiles, and occasionally carrion. They had sharp, knife-like teeth set in a strong jaw and powerful neck muscles that helped them kill their prey. So endowed by nature, these animals were capable of killing almost anything that came their way.
In addition, the killer pigs were very fast and agile despite their enormous mass. Because entelodonts are an extinct group of animals and no longer have any descendants, it is difficult to determine their speed with high accuracy. There are also no fossil records (for example, foot seals fossilized in mud) of the speed of entelodonts. Based on the Body structure and the characteristics of entelodonts, it is assumed that they were relatively fast. Entelodonts had long legs designed for rapid movement, and their large, powerful jaws would have been useful for catching and killing fast prey.
These creatures probably reached speeds of more than 50 km/h. Often the thought of escape remained just a thought for the prey animals. And so these fearsome killer pigs roamed the open forests and grasslands of North America, Europe and Asia as one of the greatest predators of their time.
Illustration: Michael Werner
These pigs could even kill saber-toothed tigers!
The appearance of entelodonts can certainly be described as “worrying”, even a solid boar looks downright cute compared to a killer pig that reaches over a grown man’s head. The largest species of entelodonts had a shoulder height of 210 centimeters!
The bony ridge on its forehead and the huge tusks that jutted far from its jaw were also probably intended to deter rivals and impress females.
Boar without competition
What is also considered certain: These killer pigs communicated with each other using different sounds and body postures. According to science today, these killer pigs were also very intelligent and lived in complex social structures, similar to today’s wild boar. Living in smaller groups certainly also served to defend themselves against predators. Given their size and aggressiveness, the killer pigs were an extreme challenge for other predators, especially since the pack provided protection for a single killer pig. With the entelodonts, an attacker, regardless of whether it was a giant hyena or a saber-toothed tiger, could never be sure that he would not end up being eaten. Personally, I would rather go for the killer pig here…
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