@thedinosaurhunter

A giant among mammals, an animal that rivals all but the largest dinosaurs in size, is a rhino.

Paraceratherium.

Paraceratherium is an extinct genus of rhino and one of the largest, if not the largest, species of land mammal to ever have lived, standing around 16ft at the shoulder, over 24ft in length, and weighing anywhere from 15 to 20 tons. Living during the early to late Ologocene epoch (34-23mya), it’s name means “Near the Hornless Beast” in reference to the species Aratherium where it was originally thought to be.
It’s thought to have lived a lifestyle much similar to that of modern day elephants and rhinos, browsing from the bushes all the way tot he treetops with very few natural predators and having a slow reproduction rate, a calf every three years or so.

Such as here, where a female Paraceratherium and her 2 1/2 year old calf wander around, the calf unaware that soon, his world will be turned upside down.

@thedinosaurhunter

Shuffling in like the armoured tank it is, is our next beast.

Doedicurus.

Doedicurus isn’t a dinosaur at all, but a glyptodont, an ancient cousin of giant armadillo like animals. Doedicurus is actually the largest species of glyptodont, the size of a car, and the last too, going extinct near the end of the Last Ice Age around 11,000 BCE. Its spiked tail club was used primarily in fights between individuals of its own species and not against predators, unlike the Ankylosaur dinosaurs, due to the fact that its field of vision was very poor and that its fossils of the shell have been found with fracture marks made by a force very close to that of the muscles their tails could enforce. Living in South America during the Last Ice Age, it is very plausible that our first South American ancestors enxountered this large herbivorous tank.

Here, in the sparse svrub of the dry season, a small troop of Doedicurus scrouge for anything edible in the heat of the day.

@thedinosaurhunter

Trumpeting into the 4th spot in the pack is the dinosaur that has a massive family named after them.

Hadrosaurus.

Meaning “Sturdy Lizard”, this duck-bill dinosaur belongs in the hadrosaurid genus and lived in North America during the Late Cretaceous. Known as the first dinosaur to be identified by more than just parts of teeth in North America in 1858, it was almost assuredly a herd animal, its main protection from predators being the sheer numbers of a herd that could potentially number in the hundreds, a dangerous enemy for a single Tyrannosaur or even a Pack of Raptors to take on, as they likely had a fee sentries in the herd who’s main priority while the rest to the herd grazed or slept would be to watch for predators or other dangerous.
And while they may have no physical ways to defend against large predators such as T-Rex, these multi-ton animals were capable of maintaining their top speed far longer than that of a T-Rex, which ambushed at top speeda for likepy only a hundred maybe two hundred yards at max before having to slow down or stop completely. In short, it is like a Lion hunting a Wildebeest. A noticeably weaker prey animal that is pretty difficult to take down.

And here, A pair of Hadrosaurus near the front of the herd stand up on their hindlegs to give them advantage in their sentry duty to make sure it is clear for the rest of the herd to continue on through the forest.