Big dinosaur age crocodile Deinosuchus

This July 2019 video says about itself:

Deinosuchus Animation Preview

Locomotion and behavioral extrapolations of large crocodilian, genotype Deinosuchus. Highly dangerous aquatic predator.

From ScienceDaily:

New study confirms the power of Deinosuchus and its ‘teeth the size of bananas’

August 10, 2020

A new study, revisiting fossil specimens from the enormous crocodylian, Deinosuchus, has confirmed that the beast had teeth “the size of bananas,” capable to take down even the very largest of dinosaurs.

And, it wasn’t alone!

The research, published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, also reveals various kinds of “terror crocodile.” Two species, entitled Deinosuchus hatcheri and Deinosuchus riograndensis lived in the west of America, ranging from Montana to northern Mexico. Another, Deinosuchus schwimmeri, lived along the Atlantic coastal plain from New Jersey to Mississippi. At the time, North America was cut in half by a shallow sea extending from the Arctic Ocean south to the present-day Gulf of Mexico.

Ranging in up to 33 feet in length Deinosuchus, though, has been known to be one of the largest, if not the largest, crocodylian genera ever in existence. It was the largest predator in its ecosystem, outweighing even the largest predatory dinosaurs living alongside them between 75 and 82 million years ago.

From previous studies of cranial remains and bite marks on dinosaur fossil bones, paleontologists have long speculated that the massive beasts preyed on dinosaurs.

Now this new study, led by Dr Adam Cossette sheds new light on the monstrous creature and has further confirmed that it most certainly had the head size and crushing jaw strength to do just that.

“Deinosuchus was a giant that must have terrorized dinosaurs that came to the water’s edge to drink,” says Dr Cossette, from the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine at Arkansas State University. “Until now, the complete animal was unknown. These new specimens we’ve examined reveal a bizarre, monstrous predator with teeth the size of bananas.”

Co-author Stephanie Drumheller-Horton, a paleontologist at the University of Tennessee, added: “Deinosuchus seems to have been an opportunistic predator, and given that it was so enormous, almost everything in its habitat was on the menu.”

“We actually have multiple examples of bite marks made by D. riograndensis and a species newly described in this study, D. schwimmeri, on turtle shells and dinosaur bones.”

In spite of the genus’s name, which means “terror crocodile,” they were actually more closely related to alligators. Based on its enormous skull, it looked like neither an alligator nor a crocodile. Its snout was long and broad, but inflated at the front around the nose in a way not seen in any other crocodylian, living or extinct. The reason for its enlarged nose is unknown.

“It was a strange animal,” says Brochu. “It shows that crocodylians are not ‘living fossils’ that haven’t changed since the age of dinosaurs. They’ve evolved just as dynamically as any other group.”

Deinosuchus disappeared before the main mass extinction at the end of the age of dinosaurs (Meozoic). The reason for its extinction remains unknown. From here, the authors call for me studies to further understand Deinosuchus.

“It had two large holes are present at the tip of the snout in front of the nose,” Dr Cossette says.

“These holes are unique to Deinosuchus and we do not know what they were for, further research down the line will hopefully help us unpick this mystery and we can learn further about this incredible creature.”

American crocodiles, new research

This 21 September 2019 video from the USA says about itself:

Dave and Jeremy get you up close to the American Crocodile in the Florida Everglades. It is the only other crocodilian native to the U.S. and the southern tip of Florida is the only place to find them here. This episode is sure to have a lot of bite!

From the University of Bristol in Germany:

Genetic differences between global American Crocodile populations identified in DNA analysis

July 13, 2020

A genetic analysis of the American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) has re-established our understanding of its population structure, aiding its conservation. The collaborative study spanning seven countries and led by the Wildlife Conservation Society and University of Bristol researchers is published in PLOS ONE.

The American crocodile is widespread across the American continent (from South Florida to Venezuela, across the Greater Antilles, and from Mexico to Ecuador). Successful due to its ability to thrive within brackish and saltwater environments. Efforts to conserve the crocodile species have existed since 1975 when their status was set to vulnerable on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) red list. However, although conservation efforts have been put in place, the American crocodile faces further threats including habitat degradation due to coastal development.

Replenishing these populations requires understanding of population structures through genetic analysis, which can elaborate on the evolution of the species’ distribution. Gaining more understanding on how a species has come to be distributed so widely and how populations can differentiate genetically, can inform regions how best to manage their populations.

The study reflected a regional collaborative effort, where DNA sampling occurred across seven countries including Venezuela, Jamaica and Cuba. There has been ongoing discussion on how these regional populations of C.acutus are similar. However, the study’s results found that populations in Northern, Central and Southern America’s and Great Antilles differed genetically. There were similarities found between Costa Rica and Jamaican populations. In Venezuela, they identified three new haplotypes, which are closely related genes that help scientists identify an origin of distribution.

Researchers believe that the mating with different species could have contributed to this distribution, also known as hybridisation. Crocodiles hybridise easily, contributing to their ability to survive since the prehistoric era. Additionally, in Florida genetic analysis showed there had been a case of unintentional translocation, where the species had been moved from a different location over time. This had been flagged by previous research, where crocodiles with haplotypes from Central and South America had been transported to Florida, most likely for the pet trade, and later escaped or released into the wild by owners.

By identifying these differences between regional populations of C. acutus, conservation efforts can establish population clusters which consider the populations as independent management units that may have different needs and focuses.

Natalia Rossi, Country Manager of the Cuba Program at the Wildlife Conservation Society and the study’s co-author explains some of the challenges around taking samples from large crocodiles: “Our study involved several research teams across multiple sites and countries and often in difficult field conditions. For four years between May to July the team would record, mark and sample crocodile hatchings, and juvenile and adult crocodiles in Cuba‘s Birama Swamp, one of the study sites. It was not unusual for us to have to spend hours in the mangrove lakes waiting for one to appear, and when a crocodile was spotted the whole team would have to enter the water to help net it. While both exciting and rewarding work, it is also dangerous as the crocodiles are powerful and it involves lots of team co-ordination and trust to secure the crocodile to enable us to take samples.”

The study was ambitious and could not have been achieved without its global collaboration and efforts from its long list of authors. In particular, the late John Thorbjarnarson and Rafael Crespo, who dedicated their lives to this research.

Triassic crocodiles, dinosaur look-alikes

This 9 June 2020 video says about itself:

When Dinosaur Look-Alikes Ruled the Earth

There were a huge number of croc-like animals that flourished during the Triassic Period. Dinosaurs had just arrived on the scene but it was these animals that truly ruled the Earth, becoming both abundant and diverse.

Dinosaur age crocodile relatives, new research

This June 2019 video says about itself:

5 of the Strangest Prehistoric Crocs

Over the years, scientists have found evidence for a lot of weird prehistoric animals, but some of the strangest have been the crocodyliformes!

From the Forschungsverbund Berlin in Germany:

High-tech CT reveals ancient evolutionary adaptation of extinct crocodylomorphs

They transitioned from land to water during the Mesozoic era

June 18, 2020

The tree of life is rich in examples of species that changed from living in water to a land-based existence. Occasionally, some species took the opposite direction. New insights into the anatomy of the inner ear of prehistoric reptiles, the thalattosuchians, revealed details about one of these evolutionary turning points.

During the Mesozoic era, these now-extinct crocodile relatives ventured into the ocean after a long semiaquatic phase. During this process, the skeleton of the thalattosuchians gradually adapted to the new pelagic habitat. In particular, the changes to the inner ear vestibular system of these reptiles enhanced their ability to swim. Compared to whales, which adapted quickly to life in water without a prolonged semiaquatic stage, this is a strikingly different evolutionary path for the same transition. These new findings of an international research team were made possible by the use of a Canon high-tech computed tomography (CT) scanner from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW). The results have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Thalattosuchians lived during the Mesozoic about 182 to 125 million years ago and evolved from their land-living relatives to become fast-swimming marine predators. An international research team led by scientists from the School of Geosciences at the University of Edinburgh studied the evolutionary changes which these crocodylomorphs went through during their transition from land to the ocean. The team focused on one of the most important vertebrate sensory systems — the inner ear.

Using high-resolution computed tomography (CT), the skulls of 18 thalattosuchians from the late Triassic to the Early Cretaceous were scanned to span much of the evolutionary history of crocodylomorphs. The CT scans were compared with the scans of modern crocodiles. Some of the scans were performed at the Leibniz-IZW in Berlin.

The x-ray scans reveal detailed changes in the vestibular system of the inner ear, particularly in the bony labyrinth, which plays a crucial role in sensing balance and spatial orientation. “As they transitioned from land to water, thalattosuchians developed a strikingly compact, reduced and thickened bony labyrinth reminiscent of the reduced labyrinths of other marine reptiles and whales,” explains Guido Fritsch, scientist and CT expert at the Leibniz-IZW. “Extinct land crocodiles, on the other hand, had a taller and narrower bony labyrinth. The labyrinths of semiaquatic crocodiles, which also include modern crocodiles, are longer and more compact than those of their land-living relatives.” These results illustrate that the inner ear morphology of an animal is strongly linked to its habitat.

Interestingly, thalattosuchians developed the reduction of their inner ear labyrinth only after a long semiaquatic phase that lasted tens of millions of years. First, their skeleton changed during this phase — limbs became flippers, the body became streamlined, which allowed them to move efficiently in the water and improved their ability to swim. Only then did the changes in the inner ear develop, possibly as a response to changing sensory requirements, when the thalattosuchians moved into deeper, more open waters. This adaptation process distinguishes them from whales, whose inner ear labyrinth was miniaturised soon after their transition from land to water, without a prolonged semiaquatic phase. Thus, thalattosuchians and whales took different evolutionary routes for the same type of transition.

Future studies will examine the advantages of a reduced inner ear labyrinth for water-living animals, investigate how quickly thalattosuchians developed the adaptations in their inner ear as they entered the water, and how other sensory organs changed during this transition.

Jurassic marine crocodiles, video

This 11 June 2020 video says about itself:

When Crocodiles Swam The Oceans

Crocodiles are good swimmers and often live near river mouths near the ocean and some of them even make brief excursions into the ocean. This means they are always at a tipping point of becoming marine animals. This is known because it has happened on several occasions throughout prehistory, but in the Jurassic, one group of crocs called the thalattosuchians would take this a step further in following whales and other marine reptiles in becoming fish-like.

Dinosaur-age crocodiles walked on two legs

This 2018 BBC video says about itself:

Sarcosuchus: the Dinosaur Killing Crocodile

Steve Backshall needs the most powerful jaw in the dinosaur kingdom… the giant croc Sarcosuchus might have what he’s looking for.

Sarcosuchus walked on four legs. But other crocodiles …

From the University of Queensland in Australia:

Ancient crocodiles walked on two legs like dinosaurs

June 11, 2020

An international research team has been stunned to discover that some species of ancient crocodiles walked on their two hind legs like dinosaurs and measured over three metres in length.

University of Queensland palaeontologist Dr Anthony Romilio said the researchers first thought the similar-shaped fossilised footprints were from other ancient animals known as pterosaurs.

“At one site, the footprints were initially thought to be made by a giant bipedal pterosaur walking on the mudflat, we now understand that these were bipedal crocodile prints,” Dr Romilio said.

“The footprints measure around 24 centimetres, suggesting the track-makers had legs about the same height as human adult legs.

“These were long animals that we estimate were over three metres in length.

“And while footprints were everywhere on the site, there were no handprints.”

The research team, led by Professor Kyung Soo Kim from Chinju National University of Education, soon found clues as to why there were no handprints.

“Typical crocodiles walk in a squat stance and create trackways that are wide,” Professor Kim said.

“Oddly, our trackways are very narrow looking — more like a crocodile balancing on a tight-rope.

“When combined with the lack of any tail-drag marks, it became clear that these creatures were moving bipedally.

“They were moving in the same way as many dinosaurs, but the footprints were not made by dinosaurs.

“Dinosaurs and their bird descendants walk on their toes.

“Crocodiles walk on the flat of their feet leaving clear heel impressions, like humans do.”

The footprints dated between 110-120 million years ago and were discovered after analysing animal track sites in what is now known as South Korea.

Researchers initially questioned the absence of hand impressions from the trackways, given that today’s typical crocodiles are ‘four-legged’ or quadrupedal.

“Fossil crocodile tracks are quite rare in Asia, so finding an abundance of nearly one hundred footprints was extraordinary,” Dr Romilio said.

“As an animal walks, the hind feet have the potential of stepping into the impression made by the hand and ‘over-printing’ it, but we find no evidence of this at these Korean sites.

“It isn’t due to poor preservation either, because these fossils are spectacular, they even have the fine details of the toe-pads and scales on their soles preserved.”

Crocodiles, from dinosaur age till today

This 2 June 2020 video from England says about itself:

Crocodiles Rock | Live Talk with London Natural History Museum Scientist

This live talk with palaeontologist Lorna Steel answers these croc questions and more: How ancient are these creatures? What was the earliest croc and how have they changed throughout history?

Dinosaurs, male or female?

This video says about itself:

Dinosaur mating rituals | Walking with Dinosaurs in HQ | BBC

Watch the savage and deadly mating rituals that signaled which Diplodocus had earned the right to mate.

Broadcast in 1999, Walking with Dinosaurs set out to create the most accurate portrayal of prehistoric animals ever seen on the screen. Combining fact and informed speculation with cutting-edge computer graphics and animatronics effects, the series took two years to make.

From Queen Mary University of London in England:

Can we really tell male and female dinosaurs apart?

May 12, 2020

Scientists worldwide have long debated our ability to identify male and female dinosaurs. Now, research led by Queen Mary University of London has shown that despite previous claims of success, it’s very difficult to spot differences between the sexes.

In the new study, researchers analysed skulls from modern-day gharials, an endangered and giant crocodilian species, to see how easy it is to distinguish between males and females using only fossil records.

Male gharials are larger in size than females and possess a fleshy growth on the end of their snout, known as a ghara. Whilst the ghara is made from soft tissue, it is supported by a bony hollow near the nostrils, known as the narial fossa, which can be identified in their skulls.

The research team, which included Jordan Mallon from the Canadian Museum of Nature, Patrick Hennessey from Georgia Southern University and Lawrence Witmer from Ohio University, studied 106 gharial specimens in museums across the world. They found that aside from the presence of the narial fossa in males, it was still very hard to tell the sexes apart.

Dr David Hone, Senior Lecturer in Zoology at Queen Mary University of London and author of the study, said: “Like dinosaurs, gharials are large, slow-growing reptiles that lay eggs, which makes them a good model for studying extinct dinosaur species. Our research shows that even with prior knowledge of the sex of the specimen, it can still be difficult to tell male and female gharials apart. With most dinosaurs we don’t have anywhere near that size of the dataset used for this study, and we don’t know the sex of the animals, so we’d expect this task to be much harder.”

In many species, males and females can look very different from each other. For example, antlers are largely only found in male deer and in peacocks, males are normally brightly-coloured with large, iridescent tail feathers whereas females are much more subdued in their colouration. This is known as sexual dimorphism and is very common within the animal kingdom. It is expected that dinosaurs also exhibit these differences, however this research suggests that in most cases this is far too difficult to tell from the skeleton alone.

Dr Hone said: “Some animals show extraordinarily high levels of sexual dimorphism, for example huge size differences between males and females. Gharials sit somewhere in the middle as they do possess these large narial fossa that can help with identification. Our study suggests that unless the differences between the dinosaurs are really striking, or there is a clear feature like the fossa, we will struggle to tell a male and female dinosaur apart using our existing dinosaur skeletons.”

The new research also challenges previous studies that have hinted at differences between the sexes in popular dinosaur species such as the Tyrannosaurus rex (T. rex), and led to common misconceptions amongst the general public.

“Many years ago, a scientific paper suggested that female T. rex are bigger than males. However, this was based on records from 25 broken specimens and our results show this level of data just isn’t good enough to be able to make this conclusion,” Dr Hone added.

South African crocodile fights five lions, video

This 28 April 2020 video from South Africa says about itself:

Cornered Crocodile is Forced to Attack 5 Lions

These lions left their waterbuck scraps lying around, which a crocodile thought was an easy meal. But, no, these lions weren’t giving up their scraps so easy.

Watch the shocking moment a crocodile finds himself completely surrounded by a pride of lions, and has no other option but to use his jaw strength and speed to get away!

This video was taken one early morning, by Vernon Cresswell (61) in Buffelshoek in the Sabi Sands area, Greater Kruger Park. He managed to capture a pride of lionesses and cubs trying to corner a crocodile that was about to steal their waterbuck meal.

Vernon told LatestSightings.com of the drive that led up to this sighting:

“We managed to track a pride of lions in that area that is called the Talamati Pride. This had taken down a male waterbuck just a few hours before. All of them had fed on the buck and left the carcass about 100m from the dam.”

“A crocodile obviously sensed that there was a carcass nearby, so he left the water to investigate and maybe get an easy meal.”

“When the croc got onto land, it was only a few meters from the waters’ edge. Some of the younger lions (9 cubs) showed some interest and moved closer to see what this creature was up to. After a little while, some of the adult females (5 in total) noticed what was happening and came to the scene.”

“At first, it seemed they toyed with the crocodile to test his reflex and speed. Soon after this toying, the crocodile let off a massive snap as it clenched its jaw. The croc snapped his jaws at the lions in an attempt to defend itself. This caused the lions to launch a full-on mob at the crocodile.”

“The lions were all taken by surprise, but their reflexes were faster than the speed of the crocodile, and they soon got the upper hand. The crocodile sensed it has no chance and scurried back towards the water, finally disappearing into the dam.

“With the hippos snorting madly in the distance, we were amazed by the sighting, and we were excited to see how it would play out. We’ve been going to the bush regularly for 30 years, and not once have we seen something like this. Always anticipate what can happen, and put yourself in the right place and just be patient. Nature usually pays off!”

Mother crocodile protects baby against eagle

This 2019 video from Africa shows a Nile crocodile mother fighting for the life of her baby against an African sea eagle.