10 Weirdest Extinct Creatures

3. Chalicothere

At 3 metres tall, the chalicotheres of the Oligocene period could beat your whole family in an arm wrestle and then tear you limb from limb. Those beefy muscles were built to carry almost half a tonne of weight, with the vast majority of the load being supported by their haunches. This is one prehistoric beastie that couldn't afford to miss leg day at the gym. The front limbs, though less chunky, boasted a set of large hooked claws, which curved in such a way that meant chalicotheres couldn't actually place their hands flat on the ground. Initially this kind of curvature suggested that these creatures liked to dig for their food. However, it is now believed that they preferred pulling down high branches and stripping them of their leaves. Either way, with such immense strength and that nasty set of claws, you would not fare well in a bare-knuckle bout with a chalicothere. That said, perhaps one of the strangest features of the chalicotheres was that they looked as though they had indeed been in a punch-up and lost; they lacked any front teeth on their upper jaw, like some sort of giant hairy toddler. Further examination of their gnashers lead scientists to believe that chalicotheres were "selective browsers", which either means that they existed in an environment where they could be picky about what they grazed on, or that they had a preference for Safari over Google Chrome. The real curve ball in this story is the identity of its closest living relative. Chalicothere€™s knuckle-walking tendencies are rather apelike, their claws are similar to those of an anteater and those forelimbs are reminiscent of a sloth's. But believe it or not, the chalicothere is actually an early form of horse. You might have a hard job getting a saddle and bridle on one though.