In Ancient Greek folklore, Icarus got into trouble when he flew too close to the sun. Doedicurus, on the other hand, could probably survive a supernova just by rolling into a ball. Resembling an armadillo but at 300 times the weight of one, this incredible creature roamed around the plains of South America approximately 10,000 years ago. It shared its landscape with sabre-toothed cats called Smilodon, from which it was protected by its thick armour and colossal size. At 4 metres long and 1.5 metres tall (the size of a hippo), a doedicurus was more than a match for the local predators. The impressive spike ball on the tail weighed about the same as a German Shepherd and was mostly used to swing at other doedicurus, rather than clobber sabre-tooths. Because of its size and shape, doedicurus probably wouldn't have been able to see where it was actually swinging its tail, so any hope of using the spike ball to fend off an attacker smaller than a member of its own species would have been guesswork at best. This and the fact that it wasn't the most agile of beasts meant that the first humans to arrive in South America may well have hunted the doedicurus. Unfortunately, any human tribe that managed to fell such an animal probably had no hope of getting to the tender meat inside because the chainsaw wasn't to be invented for another 10,000 years.
Peter Austin initially joined WhatCulture as an occasional contributor to our Film, Gaming and Science sections, but made the mistake of telling us that he'd been making videos in his bedroom for over a decade. Since then he's been a vital member of our YouTube team and routinely sets the standard for smart-casual wear in the office.
