Millions of years ago, dinosaurs roamed the earth, and we’ll get another glimpse at the extinct creatures when “Jurassic World Rebirth” hits theaters on Wednesday, July 2. Some dinos used to roam the Charleston area, but they weren’t alone. These five creatures walked the Holy City before humans did.
Pro tip: Dig deeper by exploring local museums like the Charleston Museum and Mace Brown Museum of Natural History.
Dinosaurs
South Carolina was underwater during the Triassic + Jurassic periods, so there hasn’t been a lot of evidence of dinosaurs in the state — especially from those who roamed land. The limited discoveries include hadrosaur teeth + a toe bone believed to belong to a dromaeosauridae, indicating the presence of Velociraptors and Microraptors.
Giant ground sloth
Bones, teeth, and claws from this large mammal have been discovered around Charleston, letting us know it lived in the area during the Great Ice Age (aka the Pleistocene). While the giant ground sloth could be up to 15 ft and weigh up to 3 tons, its flat teeth tell us it was a herbivore.
Mastodon
Another animal that was believed to roam Charleston during the Pleistocene epoch, these elephant-like creatures were built for colder temperatures. The American mastodon was usually 7 to 10 ft, smaller than its cousin the woolly mammoth, but they still had large features; last year, a fossilized mastodon tooth was found at Edisto Beach.
Megalodon
This gigantic shark (aka Otodus megalodon) is the largest predatory fish ever known to swim the ocean, and evidence of its existence has been found in Charleston. While it went extinct around 3 million years ago, it’s believed some megalodons grew to be over 70 ft with other massive features. Last year, a megalodon tooth was discovered near Charleston that was over 6 inches.
Thecachampsa carolinensis
Fossils of this giant crocodile have been discovered in Charleston, showing off a predator with a long, conical snout that allowed it to move fast and catch prey. It lived during the Oligocene epoch, approx. 26-28 million years ago, but an 18-ft replica can be found at the Charleston Museum.
