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Crocodile ancestors found in Sahara
Last Updated: Thursday, November 19, 2009 | 12:05 PM ET
CBC News
Paleontologist Paul Sereno poses with models of his Saharan discoveries: SuperCroc, BoarCroc on the upper right, PancakeCroc on the lower right, and RatCroc, DogCroc and DuckCroc on the lower left. (Mike Hettwer/National Geographic)
Fossils of five ancient relatives of modern-day crocodiles have been found in the Sahara Desert.
Three of the fossils, discovered by University of Chicago research Paul Sereno, represent newly named species. Sereno dug up the fossil remains in a series of expeditions beginning in 2000.
All of the prehistoric crocs lived about 100 million years ago in the southern super-continent known as Gondwana, when the region that is now the Sahara featured dinosaurs and grassy plains criss-crossed by rivers.
"These species open a window on a croc world completely foreign to what was living on northern continents," Sereno said in a statement.
The new croc fossils are described in the journal ZooKeys and will feature in the November issue of National Geographic magazine and in a special airing Saturday on the National Geographic Channel.
Sereno is an explorer-in-residence with National Geographic. He previously discovered a nearly complete skeleton of a massive crocodile ancestor, dubbed SuperCroc, during expeditions in 1997 and 2000.
He has also given whimsical names to the five newly discovered fossils.
The three new species are nicknamed BoarCroc, RatCroc and PancakeCroc. Sereno also found new fossils of two previously described species, which he's named DuckCroc and DogCroc.
RatCroc, DuckCroc and DogCroc were all about a metre long, while BoarCroc and Pancake Croc were six metres long.
Sereno said four of these crocs stood with their legs under their bodies. They walked like land mammals rather than sprawling with their bellies on the ground as modern crocodiles do.
PancakeCroc, on the other hand, was a squat fish-eater that likely sat motionless in the water waiting for its prey.
"My African crocs appeared to have had both upright, agile legs for bounding overland and a versatile tail for paddling in water," Sereno wrote in a National Geographic magazine article.
"Their amphibious talents in the past may be the key to understanding how they flourished in, and ultimately survived, the dinosaur era," he wrote.
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/11/19/tech-fossil-crocsc.html?ref=rss
Last Updated: Thursday, November 19, 2009 | 12:05 PM ET
CBC News
Fossils of five ancient relatives of modern-day crocodiles have been found in the Sahara Desert.
Three of the fossils, discovered by University of Chicago research Paul Sereno, represent newly named species. Sereno dug up the fossil remains in a series of expeditions beginning in 2000.
All of the prehistoric crocs lived about 100 million years ago in the southern super-continent known as Gondwana, when the region that is now the Sahara featured dinosaurs and grassy plains criss-crossed by rivers.
"These species open a window on a croc world completely foreign to what was living on northern continents," Sereno said in a statement.
The new croc fossils are described in the journal ZooKeys and will feature in the November issue of National Geographic magazine and in a special airing Saturday on the National Geographic Channel.
Sereno is an explorer-in-residence with National Geographic. He previously discovered a nearly complete skeleton of a massive crocodile ancestor, dubbed SuperCroc, during expeditions in 1997 and 2000.
He has also given whimsical names to the five newly discovered fossils.
The three new species are nicknamed BoarCroc, RatCroc and PancakeCroc. Sereno also found new fossils of two previously described species, which he's named DuckCroc and DogCroc.
RatCroc, DuckCroc and DogCroc were all about a metre long, while BoarCroc and Pancake Croc were six metres long.
Sereno said four of these crocs stood with their legs under their bodies. They walked like land mammals rather than sprawling with their bellies on the ground as modern crocodiles do.
PancakeCroc, on the other hand, was a squat fish-eater that likely sat motionless in the water waiting for its prey.
"My African crocs appeared to have had both upright, agile legs for bounding overland and a versatile tail for paddling in water," Sereno wrote in a National Geographic magazine article.
"Their amphibious talents in the past may be the key to understanding how they flourished in, and ultimately survived, the dinosaur era," he wrote.
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/11/19/tech-fossil-crocsc.html?ref=rss