9 Animal Species That Were Once Bigger Than Humans

6. Capybaras

Capybaras are these giant rodents that live in South America. They have long faces like beavers, they graze like cows, and they can swim very well. They also tend to eat their own waste in order to gain as much protein as possible. These things are known as the largest rodents in the world, capable of weighing almost 150lbs. They are sometimes considered as pests, since they often intrude on grazing lands reserved for cattle. Ordinary mousetraps clearly aren€™t suited to deal with these things. Like other rodents, they have many predators, including jaguars, caimans and anacondas. But not even the biggest of these predators could€™ve been able to fend off the capybara€™s ancestor. Josephoartigasia monesi (there doesn€™t appear to be any non-scientific name for this behemoth), is considered to have been the largest rodent of all time. Standing up to 3 meters long, 1.5 meters tall and weighing on average 2,000lbs., this is what you€™d get if you took an ordinary capybara and used the €˜Engorgio€™ charm from Harry Potter. Apart from its obvious mass, there isn€™t much else to this creature, other than it had big front teeth to defend itself against predators. One thing is for sure, though: if these things were still alive, they would almost certainly be hunted down for their meat and skin. After all, such a monster could feed an entire village for weeks.