Hasta La Gadget!

The South American giant short-faced bear was, well, giant. How giant, you ask? Well, let’s just say that it made the North American giant short-faced bear look like the North American moderately-sized short-faced bear, if you catch my drift. The South America giant short-faced bear is the largest bear ever discovered, at 3,500 pounds and at least 11 feet.

The North American giant short-faced bear is the previous record holder, having weighed up to 2,500 pounds. The largest living bear on record, meanwhile, only weighed 2,200 pounds–let’s just say that, in this scenario, its porridge would have been just right.

The South American variety roamed around its eponymous continent roughly 500,000 to two million years ago, and was likely the largest carnivore on land. Palentologist Blaine Schubert told National Geographic, “It just blew my mind how big it was.”