16 Prehistoric Animals That are Still Alive

Ancient beasts walk, swim, and crawl among us, and these prehistoric relics show no signs of fading into the history books. Prepare to be amazed: here are 16 Real Life Prehistoric Animals that are STILL ALIVE Today!

1. Lobsters

16 Prehistoric Animals That are Still Alive

Although the modern lobster is a shrunken version of its ancient self, these crusted creatures still bear a strong resemblance to their prehistoric predecessors. Since everything was way cooler in dinosaur times, lobsters were massive back in the day.

2. Nautiluses

Like the mighty lobster, nautiluses roamed the seven seas a good five hundred million years ago, even predating the formation of some of our continents! Their population has skyrocketed since prehistoric times.

3. Horseshoe Crabs

The humble horseshoe crab is one of the most resilient animals on the planet, withstanding no less than five mass extinctions and thriving all over the world. Although these crusty champions are related to scorpions, they’re not venomous.

4. Snakes

Scaly slithers are not a product of the modern era. Many different types of snakes coexisted right alongside the dinosaurs. Eophis Underwoodi is the oldest snake on record, but there were plenty more.

5. Jellyfish

Chances are you’ve seen one of these see-through stingers at least once in your life. They have been drifting through our oceans for at least fifty million years. Despite the fact that they’re soft-bodied, jellyfish have a natural defense mechanism sharped to perfection by millennia.

6. Starfish

Also called “sea stars,” these ancient prickly creatures have been chilling at the bottom of our oceans since dinosaurs walked, crawled, swam, and flew over the Earth. The earliest known starfish was called Pentasteria and resembled the animals we know and love today.

7. Crocodiles

You might be tempted to lump crocodiles and dinosaurs in the same category, but you’d be wrong. Despite appearances, crocs and dinos are not the same animals, although they do come from the same distant family tree.

8. Sea Turtles

These beautiful shelled beasts first arrived in the Jurassic Period and coexisted with the dinosaurs and mega sea monsters like the Megalodon and Liopleurodon. Despite the terrors of the ancient seas.

9. Duck-Billed Platypus

These cute and charming animals hung out with dinosaurs in the Jurassic Period, dividing their time between the land and water. Duck-Billed Platypuses have a built-in toxic stinger that they use to defeat and deter predators.

10. Pygmy Right Whales

This elusive animal is one of the greatest mysteries of the high seas and even more proof that we know more about our solar system than we do about what lurks at the bottoms of our oceans.

11. Frogs

Today’s frogs are cute little critters, but their ancestors were anything but. One of the most horrible examples is Beelzebufo, a horrid creature who dominated Madagascar, consuming smaller dinosaurs at will.

12. Lamprey

Lampreys are resilient parasitic fish that have survived and thrived through mass extinctions and changing sea temperatures. You don’t want to see one of these nasties swimming towards you out of the depths!

13. Coelacanth

These creepy-looking creatures made a grand re-entrance in the late 1930s after everyone assumed that they were extinct. Somehow they survived the cataclysmic end of the dinosaurs, lurking in the seas off Africa undetected.

14. Sawfish

Although the sawfish looks scary, it’s actually quite harmless unless provoked. This curious relic of the Cretaceous period certainly rubbed fins with aquatic dinosaurs and creatures of the deep.

15. Lancetfish

This bloodcurdling cannibal is known for its unquenchable appetite and unparalleled ruthlessness. A horrid denizen of the high seas, lancetfish have massive, razor-sharp teeth and lanky bodies.

16. Frilled Shark

Frilled sharks are astounding creatures whose reign in the seas far exceeded even the mighty megalodon. It’s estimated that frilled sharks have been trawling the deepest parts of our oceans.