Ever since life began billions of years ago, predation and predation have been an eternal topic. Predators do everything they can to find, catch and eat predators, while predators do everything in their power to survive the hunt. When they meet each other in a short line, one side shows the "spear" and the other side shows the "shield", who will be the final winner?
Sharpen the spear
Terrifying appendages: Chengjiang odd shrimp
About 520 million years ago (early Cambrian period)
The odd shrimp found in the Chengjiang fauna of China, unlike those large one- or two-meter-long counterparts, are only 4 to 8 centimeters long, but have surprisingly large appendages with sharp spines and teeth, which look a lot like the mantis-wielding catching feet—these claws are likely also used to catch prey and perhaps produce venom. Holding the prey with the limbs and then nibbling with the mouth, it seems that this classic capture mode has been produced since the birth of multicellular animals.
To the point: Sharp-tailed Shiruki
444 million to 419 million years ago (Silurian)
In ancient oceans, plate-footed horseshoe crabs were common predators, and one of them evolved a "great killer" – a sharp needle-like structure with a tail. The body of the sharp-tailed Shiru crab can reach up to 1 meter long. Their flexible tail can pierce into the body of their prey like a sword, and its interior may store poisonous liquid, like a scorpion's tail needle. In fact, the plate-footed horseshoe crab is believed to be the ancestor of the scorpion. In addition to them, bees in insects have evolved similar functions. However, the sting needles of bees are not simply used for stinging, but are also associated with spawners and are weapons derived from reproductive structures.
Powerful jaw: Dunn's fish
382 million to 358 million years ago (late Devonian period)
Dunn's fish is a large early jawed fish-like animal with a body length of up to 3.5 meters. The jawbone is an epoch-making evolutionary result in the evolutionary history of vertebrates. The appearance of the jaw allows vertebrates to bite with their mouths like other animals. No, the jaw has a stronger bite force. The combination of jaws and hard teeth gives vertebrates a weapon that surpasses invertebrates. Today, amphibians, reptiles, or mammals attack with their mouths before using claws or other structures to assist in attacking.
Flexible wrist: ammonite
100 million to 0.66 billion years ago (late Cretaceous)
The fossil ammonite found in North America is more than 1.4 meters in diameter, much larger than the millstone, and is the largest ammonite found in North America. Fossils of ammonites have also been found in other parts of the world, some larger than it. Penstone, ammonite, nautilus, squid and octopus are all cephalopod mollusks that date back to the Cambrian period. Although they do not have exoskeleton-wrapped segmented claws, their numerous wrists are also powerful tools for catching prey. Moreover, they may also have a mouth as sharp as a bird's beak, which can bite through the shell of their prey.
Sharp claws: Mitchell Sea Bear Beast
0.24 billion to 0.22 billion years ago (late Oligocene to early Miocene)
Sea bears are early pinnipeds with a body length of about 1.4 m. Unlike pinnipeds such as seals today, Mitchell sea bears had very sharp claws. They are likely to be like birds and mammals, catching prey in the water with their paws, not just with their mouths. In fact, at least from the beginning of reptiles, sharp claws gradually became the animal's powerful weapon. On land, though, claws play a greater role when hunting.
Forge a defensive shield
There is a cover on the back: the Sun Goddess Conch
540 million to 530 million years ago (early Cambrian period)
Cambrian was an era of multicellular flourishing. During this period, the ancestors of the major animal phylum appeared almost exclusively. The Sun Goddess Conch was a small shellfish-like animal that looked a bit like today's snails. They are very early shelled animals, and it is unclear what kind of molluscs they belong to. Animals living on their backs have bred to this day, snails, nautiluses, etc. are later practitioners. The appearance of shells also shows that in the Cambrian era, the living environment was very dangerous.
Bones that envelop the body: small oil ctenophores
About 521 million years ago (early Cambrian period)
The small oil ctenophora is the earliest known trilobite and the earliest arthropod. Compared to the soft bodies of other animals of the same era, the small oil ctenophores gained a huge defensive advantage—their segmented bodies were covered with hardened calcareous exoskeletons, which made them quite confident in the face of predators. It was from this time that trilobites led the evolution of arthropods for a long time. This is also a very effective survival strategy today. Insects, spiders, shrimp and crabs are all inheritors of this strategy. Although trilobites are extinct, their relatives, the horseshoe crab, still live on Earth.
Prehistoric Hedgehog: Grotesque Worm
518 million to 508 million years ago (mid-Cambrian)
Paleontologists have long been entangled in the front, back, top, and bottom orientation of such insects that are only a few centimeters. Paleontologists can now restore it more accurately. The grotesque worm has many legs, a wrist-like structure, and spikes on the back. It is almost certain that spikes are used to defend against predators. This "hedgehog strategy" was "borrowed" by a large number of animals, such as the trilobites that appeared later. Today, there are a large number of thorny species in insects, and among mammals, hedgehogs, echidnas, and porcupines are all members of the "thorny family".
Full body scales: sicklefish
419 million to 393 million years ago (early Devonian)
About 30 cm long, the sicklefish are jawless fish-like animals – their mouths cannot bite, they can only suck. The sicklefish is a very early species of fish-shaped animals. They have hard bone armor on their heads and plate armor that is as hard as their teeth. The exaggerated head of the sicklefish is ideal for digging into the silt and should be a group of animals that live on the seabed or at the bottom of the lake. This protective strategy of full-body armor is still common today, such as the scales on the surface of reptiles and fish.
Ancient "turtle shell": toothless dragon
237 million to 227 million years ago (late Triassic)
These are some of the early reptiles with a body length of up to 1 meter. Toothless dragons looked very much like turtles and tortoises. They also had dorsal and ventral carapace, but their armor consisted of more bones than today's turtles and tortoises. Toothless dragons had few teeth, were probably vegetarian animals that fed aquatic weeds, and should have rarely been active on land.
After seeing the "spear" and "shield" in "Prehistoric Ocean", which side do you think has the advantage? In addition to the animals described earlier, what other prehistoric sea creatures did you know that had superb hunting and defensive skills? Hurry up and leave a message for the editor and share it with you!
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