“The dinosaurs spawned the deadliest predators the world has ever seen”

In May this year, palaeontologists announced the discovery of Maip macrothorax, the biggest known megaraptor – up to ten metres long from nose to tail – which terrorised what is now southern Argentina 70 million years ago. This fearsome carnivore didn’t just spring out of the dust during the Cretaceous era; it evolved from a long line of predators that can be traced back to over 500 million years ago. In this issue, we’re putting prehistoric apex predators under the spotlight to see where they came from, how they’ve changed over hundreds of millions of years and what a food chain during the age of the dinosaurs looked like on land and sea. Enjoy!