9 Animal Species That Were Once Bigger Than Humans

4. Dragonflies

Dragonflies are one of the most useful insects for humans, as many of them feed off of mosquitoes. They are large for modern insects, but few subspecies ever grow beyond more than 3 inches long. Unfortunately for those readers who might be made uncomfortable by creepy crawlies in general, it was not always that way. Meganeura was an ancient ancestor of modern dragonflies that roamed the skies some 300 million years ago, when the atmosphere had much more oxygen in it. Though no insect was really ever larger than a full-grown human, Meganeura had an average wingspan of 65 centimeters, or 26 inches, larger than human newborns. If these creatures were alive today they would be more than a mere nuisance. Attacks on humans would cause serious injuries or worse. It€™s a good thing that humans never lived alongside these massive insects; otherwise every forest would be a potential nightmare scenario. Worse yet, imagine what would happen if such an insect came into contact with a modern bug zapper. Forget a tiny little spark from a bug being zapped; this titan would burst into flames and create a forest fire. The good thing about many giants on this list is that almost all of them are terrestrial. Flying giant animals is another horror story entirely. Although these dragonflies have long been extinct, they€™re not the only giant flying horror story on this list.