Bizarre Ancient Crocodiles Unearthed

A University of Chicago paleontologist has discovered five unusual new (albeit fossilized) prehistoric crocodile species in the Sahara desert.  One of the crocodiles has tusks like a boar, and another has "a snout like a duck's bill."

Although the crocodiles that we know today were found back then in nearly identical forms, there were a number of other crocodile species that did not prove as effective in weathering the millions of years of evolution.  These crocs lived in Gondwanaland 100 million years ago, the southern supercontinent which later split into Africa and South America.

The five new species were discovered by paleontologist Paul Sereno, out of the University of Chicago, who began searching the Sahara for fossils in 2000.  The first one he found was massive, dubbed SuperCroc.  At forty feet long and weighing in at eight tons, SuperCroc would have been about the size of a large school bus.  SuperCroc was designed to be a specialist hunter of other dinosaurs.  Grar!  

Several of the other species Sereno's team found have an unusual configuration, standing upright with their body directly above their legs. Although modern day crocodiles sprawl with their legs to the side, these prehistoric crocs walked about like dogs or horses.  

DogCroc had an unusually well developed forebrain, which indicates that it was quite a bit more intelligent than its brethren.  It was small, about three feet long, say the size of a large dog.  Its physical characteristics indicate that it spent most of its time on land.

Another difference between modern crocodiles and these new paleolithiic species is that several of them were plant and grub eaters.  Today's crocodiles are all carnivorous, lurking in wait for any food that passes by, be it a deer, duck, or fish.  However, two of the new species ate plants and grubs, and a third was completely omnivorous.

Prehistoric crocodiles were clearly a great deal more agile than modern crocodiles, although a modern crocodile can definitely put the speed on when it wants to.  The land speed record for a crocodile is 11 miles per hour, which happens to be just slightly faster than the average running speed of a human (10 miles per hour).  Although presumably one can put on an extra bit of speed, if one is being chased by a crocodile running full tilt across the desert towards one, jaws agape.

This Saharan find is also notable for opening up a window to a completely unknown world.  Back during the days of Gondwanaland, the world was patrolled by a variety of specialized crocodilians, who occupied niches from the rat like to the dinosaur hunter.  The crocodiles were much longer in leg, and presumably scampered across the landscape much like mammals do today.

One interesting feature of these new species is that it looks as though they were able to attain a proper gallop, a gait much like a four legged mammal today.  Only a few crocodiles are able to gallop today, notably the freshwater crocodile of Australia (known as the "Freshie").