Shadowing Practice: 8 Ancient Animals Scarier Than Dinosaurs - Learn English Speaking with Video
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We often think of dinosaurs as some of the most terrifying creatures that have ever existed.
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But what if I told you that there were some ancient creatures that were even more terrifying than dinosaurs?
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Ones with dagger-like teeth, massive horns, and gigantic sizes that would put T-Rex to shame.
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There were even some insects that were as big as you.
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Let's travel through time as we take a look at creatures scarier and more dangerous than dinosaurs.
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Megalodons.
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Ready to come face to face with one of the scariest aquatic predators of all time?
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Meet the Megalodon.
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The name of this prehistoric shark literally means big tooth.
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So you can count on the fact that these were some of the most terrifying animals ever to exist.
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especially during their time on Earth, between 3.6 to 23 million years ago.
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Megalodons were the largest sharks and one of the biggest fish ever.
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Measuring a staggering 18 m long and weighing over 70 tons,
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these sea creatures were mythologically gigantic and dangerous.
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They had massive jaws that could swallow you and a friend whole at the same time.
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even without clamping down on you with one of their many massive teeth
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that were bigger than dinner plates and perfectly designed to tear through your flesh with ease.
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Megalodons ate whales, dolphins, and possibly other sharks.
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And if we put them up against the scariest dinosaurs of all time, they'd certainly be a contender for the most apex of all apex predators.
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Wooly mammoths
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Okay, let's move on to a beast that our earliest human ancestors used to encounter thundering through frozen landscapes, wooly mammoths.
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These colossal creatures were a testament to nature's ability to adapt to and thrive in even the harshest of living conditions.
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They roamed the Earth during the Ice Age, from about 400,000 to 4,000 years ago.
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And then they went extinct.
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If they hadn't, who knows if humans would have gone on to become the dominant species we are today.
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Woolly mammoths weighed between 6 and 8 tons and stood at the imposing height of nearly 4 m.
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It just so happens that they had gigantic curved tusks that were also nearly 4 m long.
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But while their absolutely intimidating size might make them as fiercely scary as the dinosaurs, these fuzzy giants were herbivores.
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Lucky for us, that means they wouldn't need to hunt us down for dinner.
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This brings us to one of the most formidable predators of the Pleistocene epoch, maybe even of all time, the saber-toothed tiger.
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These prehistoric cats stalked the land like silent assassins between 10,000 and 2.5 million years ago.
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They hunted everything from mammoths to mastodons.
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And yes, it's possible that an ancient relative of yours might have had a close encounter with one of the beasts.
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Sabertooths weren't your average house cat, either.
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They could be as long as 2 m from head to toe and weigh up to 300 kg.
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Plus, as the name suggests, they had two massive and sharp canine teeth that resembled long, curved swords.
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These made them truly fearsome predators.
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They would ambush their prey and take them out with bite after fatal bite.
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Not that I'd want to be anywhere near this battleground, but these are definitely animals that could take on even the most dangerous dinos, like velociraptors.
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Early primates Okay, this one might not send the same shiver down your spine.
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But if you look further back into our own gene pool, there are some intimidating specimens.
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Like this ancestor of ours.
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Look no further than the early primate known as Dinopithecus.
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These baboon-like primates lived between half a million to two and a half million years ago.
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And even though they aren't huge by today's standards, at around 50 kg, they were one of the largest primates of the time.
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And considering that they would have had to compete with the previous mentioned beasts and even early humans,
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there's no doubt that these monkeys knew how to fend off other large predators.
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Elasmatherium.
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This next ancient animal might have the most beautiful and least scary-sounding name of them all.
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It was known as the Siberian unicorn.
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But don't be fooled, they were not rare, magical horses.
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Actually, they were an ancestor to the rhinoceros.
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And you better believe that they were big, and had one very large horn protruding from their head.
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They were believed to have weighed around 4.5 tons.
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But that didn't make them slow by any stretch.
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They had long legs that allowed them to run across open grasslands at stunning speeds.
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And while there isn't any evidence of one in our fossil records, it's possible that their mythologized unicorn horns measured up to 2 meters in length.
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Glyptodon.
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From here on out, some of the animals from the past could seem a little weird.
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And in terms of a scary weirdo that might be able to give a dinosaur a run for its money, check out the armored mammal known as the glyptodon.
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These were basically prehistoric armadillos, which, to be honest, makes them sound kind of cute.
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Except they weren't that.
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Covered in a bony armored shell, glyptodons were up to 3 m in length and weighed over a ton.
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Their shell was an excellent protective shield from predators, but that's not all they had going for them.
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Their tails were equipped with a spiky, club-like end that was a powerful weapon against anyone who dared step in their way.
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If an ankylosaurus tried to mess with this beast, well, yeah, good luck.
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Glypto would club him right in the ankles.
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Giant cockroaches In today's world, cockroaches are seen as pests,
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but also as a symbol of how life can survive even in the grossest, least hospitable conditions.
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Well, their prehistoric ancestors took resilience to an entirely new level.
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Approximately 359 to 299 million years ago, these critters were some of Earth's earliest inhabitants.
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And okay, compared to some of the other creatures on this list, they weren't huge.
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But at lengths of up to 9 cm, they were large for their time, and bigger than any roach you'd want to find in your kitchen.
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And while they may not stand much of a chance against dinosaur predators, they had armored exoskeletons that would have done a pretty good job protecting them.
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Yeah, good luck calling an exterminator on these bad boys.
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Pulmonoscorpius Imagine a scorpion.
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Okay, you're already running away screaming, but brace yourself for something even worse.
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A scorpion with a tail that's bigger than you.
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Yeah, that's the nightmare reality of the pulmonoscorpius.
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Using this gigantic tail, they could deliver a deadly venomous sting.
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Not to mention they could attack and grab enemies with their imposing pincers.
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With most dinosaurs, you need to worry about confronting a towering beast with massive teeth.
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But with this giant scorpion, you need to worry about all that, and the potential that they could poison you.
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Yikes!
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Any creature that co-existed with them about 300 million years ago would have been best to steer clear of these killer scorpions.
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Okay, these are a lot of terrifying creatures, but would they have actually stood a chance against some of the most fearsome dinosaurs?
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Which ones were those again?
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Well, that's a story for another What If?
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “8 Ancient Animals Scarier Than Dinosaurs”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: dinosaur, creature, predators, beast, massive. This video has 88 sentences and 1205 words to shadow. The speech runs for 8:30. The speaker talks at a steady 142 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 76% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| dinosaur noun | /ˈdaɪnəsoɹ/ | Those animals of the clade Dinosauria that existed during the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods and are now extinct. |
| predator noun | /ˈpɹɛd.ə.tɚ/ | Any animal or other organism that hunts and kills other nonplant organisms (their prey), primarily for food. |
| weigh verb | /weɪ/ | To determine the weight of an object. |
| ancestor noun | /ˈæn.sɛs.tɚ/ | One from whom a person is descended, whether on the father's or mother's side, at any distance of time; a progenitor; a forefather; a forebear. |
| mammoth noun | /ˈmæməθ/ | Any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus, of large, usually hairy, elephant-like mammals with long curved tusks and an inclined back, which became extinct… |
| prehistoric adjective | /ˌpɹiː.hɪsˈtoɹ.ɪk/ | Of or relating to the epoch before written record. |
| primate noun | /ˈpɹaɪmeɪt/ | A mammal of the order Primates, comprising of apes (including humans), monkeys, lemurs, tarsiers, lorisids, and galagos. |
| scorpion noun | /ˈskɔɹ.pi.ən/ | Any of the order Scorpiones of arachnids related to spiders, characterised by two large front pincers and a curved tail with a venomous sting at the end. |
| terrify verb | /ˈtɛɹɪfaɪ/ | To frighten greatly; to fill with terror. |
| gigantic adjective | /d͡ʒaɪˈɡæntɪk/ | Very large. |
| glyptodon noun | A member of the genus Glyptodon of extinct giant armadillos. | |
| megalodon noun | A species of extinct shark that lived during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs (†Otodus megalodon). | |
| armor noun | /ˈɑːɹ.mɚ/ | A protective layer over a body, vehicle, or other object intended to deflect or diffuse damaging forces. |
| horn noun | /hɔɹn/ | A hard growth of keratin that protrudes from the top of the head of certain animals, usually paired. |
| fearsome adjective | /ˈfɪɹsəm/ | Frightening, especially in appearance. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). |
| run across verb | To cross by running. |
| run away verb | To flee by running. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was known · be fooled · were believed |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have ever existed · have actually stood |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 13 contractions and reduced forms, such as weren't, aren't, didn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: mammoth /ˈmæməθ/, tooth /tuθ/, mythologize /mɪˈθɒlədʒʌɪz/, thrive /θɹajv/, thunder /ˈθʌndɚ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shiver /ˈʃɪvɚ/, ambush /ˈæm.bʊʃ/, harsh /ˈhɑɹʃ/, flesh /flɛʃ/
- Long words — get the stress right: prehistoric /ˌpɹiː.hɪsˈtoɹ.ɪk/, intimidate /ɪnˈtɪmɪdeɪt/, ankylosaurus /ˌæŋkəloʊˈsɔːɹəs/, armadillo /ɑɹməˈdɪloʊ/, exterminator /ɪkˈstɝmɪˌneɪtɚ/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like dinosaur, predator, weigh.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.