Unsurprisingly 300,000,000 years ago, the world was extremely different at ground level. Sprawling forests primarily made of club mosses and horsetails towered across much of the terrestrial landscape, under which thrived vast swamps of murky water and unfamiliar creatures.
The oxygen levels of these huge swamps were ten percent higher than those we experience today, which greatly altered the cast of animals that were able to evolve. The conditions were perfect for a bizarre new array of gigantic arthropods to radiate amongst these eerie woodlands, the largest and amongst the most well-known of which was Arthropleura.
Arthropleura would be borderline alien to any human alive today; a gigantic relative of modern millipedes that grew to be over two and a half metres in length. Arthropleura was, in fact, the largest terrestrial arthropod ever to have evolved on our planet, and today we will be examining its life and natural history in detail.
Join us as we explore how this giant lived and behaved; where it thrived, and how it ultimately disappeared from this world.
Sit back and relax as we meet Arthropleura - the largest millipede ever to live.