An enormous Cretaceous crocodile relative hunted dinosaurs, ripping them apart using powerful jaws lined with teeth "the size of bananas," researchers say. Known as Deinosuchus, which means "terrible crocodile" in Greek, this lineage of semiaquatic reptiles certainly lived up to its name.
The freshwater crocodile, named Confractosuchus sauroktonos, which means "the broken dinosaur killer," was over 8 feet long. But Matt White, research associate at the museum and lead researcher, said it would have grown much larger. Researchers were unsure how the crocodile died.
Based on fossil evidence, the longest crocodile ever to live was a Sarcosuchus imperator, who measured 40 feet long and weighed 17,600 pounds.
The biggest freshwater croc ever, Sarcosuchus imperator, lived 110 million years ago, grew as long as 40 feet (12 meters), and weighed up to eight metric tons (17,500 pounds).
A new study of Deinosuchus or "terror crocodiles," led by Adam Cosette, offers a fuller picture of the ancient creature from head to tail. Cossette said Deinosuchus had large, robust teeth, ranging from six to eight inches long, as shown in the photo.
One of the largest known Saltwater crocodile measured 6.2 m (20.3 ft) and was shot in Papua New Guinea. A 6.17 m (20.2 ft) long individual was captured alive in Mindanao in 2011. The largest confirmed Saltwater crocodile on record was 6.32 m (20.7 ft) long, and weighed about 1,360 kg (3,000 lb).
The fossil was first discovered near Winton in 2010 by palaeontologists, and took more than six years to piece together. It's the first skeletal remains of an ornithopod reported in the region and the first evidence that crocodiles ate dinosaurs in Australia.
Measuring more than 16 feet (5 meters) long from snout to tail, this newly described beast — called Mambawakale ruhuhu, which means "ancient crocodile from the Ruhuhu Basin" in Kiswahili — "would have been a very large and pretty terrifying predator," when it was alive during the Triassic period, said study lead ...
In 2011, professional crocodile hunters captured Lolong and discovered that they had just caught the world's largest saltwater crocodile. Lolong measured 20 feet and 3 inches long and nearly 2,400 pounds.
One of the most popular genera of Pelycosaurs is the Dimetrodons. Dimetrodons resemble squat crocodiles and are easily identified by their massive sail-like spine across the backs. The last Dimetrodon lived 60 million years before the first dinosaurs ever lived, although they look extremely similar to most people.
Nile Crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus)
Although adults vary in size, most grow to reach 16.5 to almost 20 feet (roughly 5 to 6 meters) in length. The species easily claims the title of the most-dangerous crocodilian, since it is widely thought to be responsible for more than 300 attacks on people per year.
Although most attacks are not reported, the Nile crocodile is estimated to kill hundreds (possibly thousands) of people each year, which is more than all other crocodilian species combined.
Gustave is a large male Nile crocodile in Burundi who is notorious for being a man-eater, rumored to have killed as many as 200 people on the banks of the Ruzizi River and the northern shores of Lake Tanganyika, between which he roams.
The largest carnivore that ever walked the planet – Tyrannosaurus rex – is more closely related to the modern chicken than it is to living reptiles such as the alligator or crocodile, a study of the dinosaur's fossilised protein has found.
Deinosuchus comes from the Greek δεινός/deinos, meaning "terrible", and σοῦχος/suchos, meaning "crocodile". This skull reconstruction, exhibited at the American Museum of Natural History for nearly a half-century, is probably the best known of all Deinosuchus fossils.
Alligators & Crocodiles: These sizeable reptiles survived–even though other large reptiles did not. Birds: Birds are the only dinosaurs to survive the mass extinction event 65 million years ago. Frogs & Salamanders: These seemingly delicate amphibians survived the extinction that wiped out larger animals.
Back in July 1957, Australia's largest known crocodile, 8.64 metres long, was killed with a single shot on the banks of the Norman River by a Polish immigrant Krystina Pawlowski. The shot made her a worldwide celebrity and earned her the nickname One Shot along with a place in the Guiness Book of Records.
According to Oldest.org, the oldest crocodile in captivity on record was Freshie, who lived for 140 years. Freshie was caught in 1970 by Steve Irwin and his father, Bob Irwin, in the Moorehead River.
Lolong – 23 Feet 3 Inches (7.01 Meters)
The crocodile was named after a local hunter who helped capture it in 2011. Lolong weighed over 2,370 pounds (1,075 kg) and measured 23 feet 3 inches (7.01 meters) in length.
The Nile crocodile is the largest crocodilian in Africa, and is generally considered the second-largest crocodilian after the saltwater crocodile.
The movie Primeval is actually about the monstrous crocodile. Some rumors suggest 'Gustave' died in 2019. But there is no photographic evidence, and no carcass ever got recovered. 'Gustave' is a Nile crocodile that is considered the most dangerous crocodile.
An expert in evolutionary biology explains. There are two main reasons. First, crocodiles can live for a very long time without food. Second, they lived in places that were the least affected when the asteroid hit Earth.
Yes, birds are the closest living relatives of the dinosaurs because of several shared characteristics: Lay eggs: Like birds, dinosaurs built nests in which to lay eggs. Their young would hatch from these eggs. This way of reproduction is called oviparity.
While all birds are descended from dinosaurs, the mysterious cassowary is thought to be more similar to ancient dinosaurs than most other birds. Large bodied with fierce claws, these flightless birds also have casques, a helmet-like structure atop the head, which many dinosaurs are believed to have had.