Strange ancient crocodiles swam the Sahara

Three newly identified species shared Sahara area 100 million years ago

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/1167c50f31f5.jpg[/atsimg]
Paleontologist Paul Sereno and his colleagues unearthed a bizarre bunch of crocodile remains in the Sahara. The crocs sported snouts and other traits that resembled some modern-day animals and inspired nicknames, including SuperCroc (weighed 8 tons), BoarCroc (upper right), PancakeCroc (lower right), RatCroc, DogCroc and DuckCroc.

Nov . 19, 2009
From a crocodile sporting a boar-like snout to a peculiar pal with buckteeth for digging up grub, an odd-looking bunch of such reptiles dashed and swam across what is now the Sahara Desert some 100 million years ago when dinosaurs ruled.

That's the picture created by remains of three newly identified species of ancient crocs plus fossils from two species previously named.

A team led by Paul Sereno of the University of Chicago unearthed remains of the bizarre crocodiles during a series of expeditions beginning in 2000 in the Sahara.

www.msnbc.msn.com...

Evolution is alive and well, wonder what we looked like back then.

reply to post by Aquarius1


The findings are described in this open access journal ZooKeys.

Link

Also they will air a documentary.

When Crocs Ate Dinosaurs airs Saturday, November 21, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on the National Geographic Channel

reply to post by jjjtir


Thanks for the information jjjtir, I will definitely be watching.

EDIT: Posted in wrong thread, sorry

[edit on 21-11-2009 by Majiq]

Nice find there

Where I live at the moment used to be a large inland ocean....makes me want to wander off into the desert to look for fossils

S & F

reply to post by OzWeatherman


Must be great living in Australia, been pretty much all over the World but haven't made it to your beautiful country and don't think I will at this point but you never know..

I was reading about these in National Geographic. Cool stuff.

reply to post by Rune Spider


I actually read about this in NG also, been a subscriber for more years than I want to admit, love that publication, nothing like having it in your hands, some of the best photography in the world.