The Prehistoric Croc Thread- Anything crocodilian related

Adam Khor · 26-09-2016 3:43am

It appears that they had relatively huge heads and most of them did not exceed 7 meters long.

http://palaeo-electronica.org/content/2016/1554-teleosaurid-size-estimation

Capt'n Midnight · 29-09-2016 5:14pm

It's hard to believe that the Amazon used to flow into the Pacific, before the Andes rose up. Or that the Congo used to be a tributary, before the Atlantic opened up.

Adam Khor · 29-09-2016 8:19pm

What was that about the Congo?

Capt'n Midnight · 29-09-2016 11:36pm

Adam Khor wrote: »

What was that about the Congo?

Back in the days of Gondwanaland it used to flow into the Pacific Ocean.

Adam Khor · 04-07-2017 6:55pm

This animal has been known for a while now but only today it's been formally announced. At first it was believed it could've been a giant theropod in the same size class as Tyrannosaurus, but it turns out to be a notosuchian (a land crocodile). It would've been around 7 meters long, although its jaws and teeth are still comparable to those of T. rex.
http://www.newsweek.com/ancient-giant-crocodie-t-rex-teeth-madagascar-631590

Fathom · 07-07-2017 3:32am

Razanandrongobe. Scavenger or predator or both?

Adam Khor · 07-07-2017 3:58am

Among big animals today, all predators are occassional scavengers. The exceptions are few- cheetahs for example rarely if ever scavenge, but that may have more to do with their need to avoid larger predators (lions, hyenas) than any actual dislike for carrion. If they only fed on prey killed by themselves, all captive cheetahs would starve.
Likewise, even the most dedicated scavengers- vultures- will kill live prey if pushed by hunger and presented with an opportunity. All things considered, I'd imagine Razanandrongobe was no different from modern meat eaters.

Fathom · 07-07-2017 8:14pm

A link between crocodylomorphs and theropods?

Adam Khor · 07-07-2017 8:20pm

Convergent evolution. The crocodylomorph's answer to theropods, you could say.

Fathom · 07-07-2017 8:26pm

Adam Khor wrote: »

Convergent evolution. The crocodylomorph's answer to theropods, you could say.

These organisms evolved? Did not suffer extinction as many species of dinosaurs?

riffmongous · 07-07-2017 8:37pm

What an awful name, that will never catch on.

Adam Khor · 07-07-2017 8:41pm

Did Razanandrongobe specifically evolve into something else? That I don´t know, since no remains of potential descendants have been found, at least to my knowledge. But its Notosuchian relatives continued to exist until the late Cretaceous, and another branch of land-crocs (Sebecosuchians) even made it to the Miocene, where some forms (Barinasuchus, for example) also reached pretty large sizes.

And then after that, you had land crocs again, this time more closely related to modern crocodiles, such as the Australian Quinkana which was as large as today's saltwater crocodiles and like Razanandrongobe and Barinasuchus had serrated, blade like teeth to deal with land prey. Quinkana lasted until about 40.000 years ago, meaning it may have been seen the first humans to arrive to Australia (who knows, maybe ate a few too).

But again, convergent evolution- same basic design, three different linneages.

Fathom · 07-07-2017 9:03pm

If there had been a major dinosaur extinction event millions of years ago. One that ended many species. Razanandrongobe may have been lucky. Evolved.

Adam Khor · 07-07-2017 9:15pm

Large animals in general tend to be the first to go with major extinction events, unfortunately.

Adam Khor · 07-07-2017 9:15pm

Large animals in general tend to be the first to go with major extinction events, unfortunately.

Fathom · 10-07-2017 6:36pm

Adam Khor wrote: »

Large animals in general tend to be the first to go with major extinction events, unfortunately.

Comparatively speaking. Read (somewhere) that primates were at first advantaged by their small size. Many later evolved into larger-sized species.

Adam Khor · 10-07-2017 7:35pm

That is my point; during times of ecological crisis in which food is scarce and competition fierce, small animals (say, small primates) are more likely to survive, especially if they're not very specialized, whereas the larger animals that need a lot more food, space etc tend to go extinct. Then later the smaller ones may evolve into larger species when and if the conditions go back to being favourable, but by doing so they risk extinction the next time there's a crisis.

Fathom · 11-07-2017 3:49pm

65 million years ago. All animals with 25 kg body weights become extinct. Suggests Chandra Wickramasinghe in Where Did We Come From: Life of an Astrobiologist.

Adam Khor · 16-07-2017 7:21pm

Not really true- some animals larger than that survived, including the 2-3 meter crocodile Borealosuchus and the 4-5 meter long Thoracosaurus (a sea crocodile), as well as Champsosaurus (which actually grew bigger after the end of the Cretaceous). The crocodiles can be explained because they're capable of surviving a long time without feeding, but the seemingly warm-blooded champsosaurs are more difficult to explain.

Fathom · 17-07-2017 3:34pm

Adam Khor wrote: »

Not really true- some animals larger than that survived, including the 2-3 meter crocodile Borealosuchus and the 4-5 meter long Thoracosaurus (a sea crocodile), as well as Champsosaurus (which actually grew bigger after the end of the Cretaceous). The crocodiles can be explained because they're capable of surviving a long time without feeding

Borealosuchus and Thoracosaurus exceeded Chandra Wickramasinghe's body weight claims. Both aquatic. Champsosaurus was mostly aquatic too?

Adam Khor · 17-07-2017 5:50pm

Champsosaurus was most certainly aquatic- more so than crocodiles, even. It has even been suggested, at least for one of the species, that only the female was able to walk on land, whereas the male had weaker limbs and was unable to do so, being restricted to water his entire life.(Females would have retained the ability to walk on land because of egg laying).

Fathom · 17-07-2017 7:58pm

Adam Khor wrote: »

Champsosaurus was most certainly aquatic- more so than crocodiles, even. It has even been suggested, at least for one of the species, that only the female was able to walk on land, whereas the male had weaker limbs and was unable to do so, being restricted to water his entire life.(Females would have retained the ability to walk on land because of egg laying).

Cool Khor! All 3 aquatic. Survival advantage? For heavy weights.

Adam Khor · 18-09-2017 8:53pm

The article has a HUGE error- it says Deltasuchus lived at the same time as T. rex, when in reality it lived about 95 million years ago, and T. rex 68-66 million years ago.
Deltasuchus was about six meters long, the size of our largest Nile and saltwater crocodiles- bite marks indicate it fed on dinosaurs among other things. It is the first broad snouted, big game hunting crocodile known from that time and place (the others were long and narrow snouted, like gharials).
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2017/09/15/giant-dinosaur-eating-crocodile-discovered-in-texas.html
Deltasuchus_motherali-novataxa_2017-Adams-Noto-Drumheller.jpg

Deltasuchus_motherali-novataxa_2017-Adams-Noto-Drumheller.jpg

Adam Khor · 02-02-2018 4:31am

https://phys.org/news/2018-01-giant-tortoises-aldabra-atoll-ward.html

Adam Khor · 16-05-2018 2:53am

http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/magyarosuchus-fitosi-06002.html

Adam Khor · 21-05-2018 3:35am

This is very interesting. I remember reading many years ago about how caiman could do this, but apparently it's more widespread among crocodylians than we thought. This is not paleontology but has possible implications for dinosaurs and their thermorregulation abilities.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-24579-6.pdf

Adam Khor · 11-07-2018 2:23am

https://www.clarionledger.com/story/magnolia/2018/07/09/mississippi-hunting-ancient-gator-species-too-big-catch/759097002/

636665625045169481-0710deinosuchus001.jpg?width=534&height=401&fit=crop

636665625045169481-0710deinosuchus001.jpg?width=534&height=401&fit=crop

Adam Khor · 12-07-2018 9:13pm

https://eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-06/uotw-itg061818.php

Adam Khor · 13-01-2019 8:19am

The finds show that Cuban crocodiles, although very restricted nowadays, were much more widespread during the Pleistocene.

http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/handle/2246/6920

Cuban crocodiles are notorious for their aggressive temper and for being the most agile crocodile species on dry land.

Cuban-Crocodile.jpg?fit=745%2C483&ssl=1

Here's a painting of a Cuban crocodile attacking a ground sloth (also a flightless Grus cubensis crane).

Adam Khor · 07-02-2019 5:14am

Had a couple distinctive "horns":

02724634.2018.1528450?journalCode=ujvp20

It lived in Brazil during the Miocene, and was related to the gigantic Purussaurus, which was one of the largest crocodilians known from the fossil record:

Today, most caimans are relatively small crocodilians- except for the black caiman (Melanosuchus niger) which is the largest member of the family and the largest Amazonian predator nowadays. Acresuchus is believed to have been ecologically similar.

13230151_1049382801806351_4231595413498432164_n.jpg?_nc_cat=108&_nc_ht=scontent.fssa7-1.fna&oh=98457da1e8886c96e592b2e77e3d8c91&oe=5C937614

13230151_1049382801806351_4231595413498432164_n.jpg?_nc_cat=108&_nc_ht=scontent.fssa7-1.fna&oh=98457da1e8886c96e592b2e77e3d8c91&oe=5C937614

418198_269431843134788_1764811767_n.jpg?_nc_cat=102&_nc_ht=scontent.fssa7-1.fna&oh=0eb402caec645a68607eab18ed56b9f6&oe=5CA1E124

The Prehistoric Croc Thread- Anything crocodilian related

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