The shocking truth about the 8m tall limbless "monster"

Su that chan dong ve “quai vat” khong chan tay cao 8m

Discovered more than 160 years ago, the giant fossil structures made by the 8m-tall limbless "monster" called Prototaxites became a big mystery to experts as they could not be classified. After many years of research, experts at the University of Edinburgh (UK) determined that it could be a new form of life. Photo: Mary Parrish, National Museum of Natural History.

Su that chan dong ve “quai vat” khong chan tay cao 8m-Hinh-2

The " monster " Prototaxites looks like a strange tower, up to 8 meters high, without limbs or branches, not an animal, plant or any form of life known to humans. Photo: Loron et al., bioRxiv, 2025.

Su that chan dong ve “quai vat” khong chan tay cao 8m-Hinh-3

According to experts, Prototaxites are believed to have emerged in the late Silurian period, about 420 million years ago. Photo: Loron et al., bioRxiv, 2025.

Su that chan dong ve “quai vat” khong chan tay cao 8m-Hinh-4

Some early 21st-century research by experts speculated that Prototaxites might be a “monster” fungus . This was reinforced in 2017 when experts conducted an analysis involving a fossil fragment believed to be from the periphery of a smaller Prototaxites species called P. taiti. However, this is still not definitive proof. Photo: Loron et al., bioRxiv, 2025.

Su that chan dong ve “quai vat” khong chan tay cao 8m-Hinh-5

Recently, a study conducted by experts at the University of Edinburgh examined and analyzed three fragments of P. taiti and concluded that there was not enough evidence to conclude that Prototaxites was a fungus. Photo: preprint server bioRxiv.

Su that chan dong ve “quai vat” khong chan tay cao 8m-Hinh-6

Through microscopic examination of anatomy and chemical analysis of tubular structures, the team systematically eliminated any possible relationships between Prototaxites and present-day fungi and other species. Image: preprint server bioRxiv.

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“We believe that Prototaxites are best considered members of a group of eukaryotes that is now completely extinct and has never been documented before,” the team said. Image: preprint server bioRxiv.

Su that chan dong ve “quai vat” khong chan tay cao 8m-Hinh-8

Experts say the presence of Prototaxites, a previously unidentified form of life on Earth, is evidence that we have yet to fully decipher the evolutionary history of plants and animals on the blue planet. Photo: preprint server bioRxiv.