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From the blistering sands of the Sahara, paleontologist Paul Sereno has pulled an incredible find: the nearly complete remains of Sarcosuchus imperator, one of the largest crocodilians to ever walk the Earth.
As long as a city bus, and weighing in at about ten tons, “SuperCroc” lives up to its nickname.
Sarcosuchus imperator, or “flesh crocodile emperor,” lived roughly 110 million years ago, when rivers coursed over what is now sub-Saharan Africa. Sarcosuchus prowled the rivers’ banks, crushing fish—and other creatures—in its massive jaws.
Sarcosuchus
Sarcosuchus imperator had more than a hundred teeth. Unlike today’s crocodilians, SuperCroc’s skull grew wider toward the front of its snout, which was studded with a row of enlarged incisors. These bone-crushers, Sereno says, indicate Sarcosuchus could eat far meatier prey than fish.
Desert-Adapted Crocs Found in Africa.
The desert crocodiles have adapted to the changing environment in northern Africa; 8,000 to 10,000 years ago, what is now desert was probably lush savannah and grasslands. Today the Sahara is hot and arid, the land sandy, rainfall minimal, and vegetation sparse...