Posted on 07/10/2009 7:55:59 AM PDT by JoeProBono
An ancient fossil crocodile coated in armadillo-like body armor was unveiled yesterday at an environmental museum in Brazil.
Dubbed Armadillosuchus arrudai, the newly described species of crocodile roamed the arid interior of Brazil about 90 million years ago, during the late Cretaceous period, scientists said.
It was 6.6 feet (2 meters) long, weighed about 265 pounds (120 kilograms), and had a relatively wide head with a narrow, toothy snout.
Body armor has never been "found in any other fossil or living crocodile species," Ismar de Souza Carvalho, a paleontologist at the Federal University in Rio de Janeiro, said via email.
And "the strangeness did not stop there," Thiago Marinho, a paleontologist with the Federal University, added in an email. "This crocodyliform could [chew] like mammals do, like we do."
Most modern crocs simply use their powerful jaws to clamp down on their prey. But the fossil crocodile could move its lower jaw forward and backward, using its teeth to tear into dried meat, roots, pine branches, and mollusks, Marinho said.
An ancient crocodile with armadillo-like body armor (above, a reconstruction of the fossil in an undated picture) roamed the arid interior of Brazil about 90 million years ago, say researchers who found the fossil in São Paolo state.
In addition to its unusual bony shield, the reptile could chew like a mammal, moving its lower jaw forward and backward, researchers said in July 2009.
Kitty has claws. Yikes!
How do they know it wasn’t a crocodile like armodillo. Maybe it wa a mammal...
Brazilians still eat Armadillo. Probably the ancient villagers had much larger BBQ’s!
Wow, that’s cool.
looks more like a cross between a ‘dillo and a Tasmanian Devil
an Anthony Bourdain’s show he went to Brazil and was served barbecued armadillo. They showed his host sending his ten year old son out to catch one, which he was able to do with very little effort. Something is just not right about eating a critter which is that pathetically easy to catch.
Most likely they could tell by the ear canal, or any number of other features, that this was a reptile not a mammal.
Don't care much for Armadillos. They are everywhere in Central Florida. Ranchers used to shoot them. They'll ruin good pasture land.
In the poor area I come from a lot of the BBQ’s in the ethnic neighborhoods would eat them all the time. Supposedly VERY greasy!
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Note: this topic is from July 2009. |
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