Image Credit: Tyler Keillor, courtesy of Dr. Paul Sereno
Paul Sereno: You’re looking at an animal that is a cross between a boar and a crocodile. Never doubt the creativity of evolution!
That’s Paul Sereno, a paleontologist at the University of Chicago. At a 2009 science meeting, he showed EarthSky the unusual fossil that his team unearthed in a remote region of the Sahara Desert. Sereno said he’d never found anything quite like it.
Paul Sereno: Some of the features we see in the skull that we’ve never seen in a crocodilian are two horns coming out the back of the skull. At the front end of the skull, it’s sort of got a stub nose and a horny covering as if it was ramming itself forward in some way – and then the outstanding feature are the three sets of fangs going up and down.
This ‘boar-croc’, said Sereno, is a relative of the modern crocodile, and lived in the African Sahara 90 million years ago, in an area which, back then, was a lush riverway.
Paul Sereno: The unusual features that we see in the boar-croc and all the other strange crocodilians – sometimes they are walking, sometimes they are eating plants – is because the crocodilians then were more than they are now, evolutionarily speaking. They were playing the roles that mammals are playing today in some of these environments. So where you have an animal with fangs, it’s pretty quick. It can take down a fairly large animal – you might think of a lion, you might think of a hyena, something that can crunch through bone. This was the animal – there were no lions and hyenas at that time.
Our thanks to:
Paul Sereno
University of Chicago
Chicago, IL
Re: Ancient-fanged-boar-croc.
I disagree with you Paul. This animal wasn’t built for speed or butting it’s head against anything. This was an animal of opportunity just like the crocs we have today. The fangs are for ripping and tearing of dead flesh. The nose way up in the air at the front of the skull was so everything but the nose could remain hidden underwater. It was dangerous for this animal to be out of the water so it sat way under, stealthly waiting for the opportunity of a meal. It might be that the nose was more blunt because it was easier to pull flesh from bone when it was flush with the bone. 90 million, was that during the Crustasious period?
Renee L. Waring
What a amazing find Paul!Looks robustly cryptic which might suggest an ambush strategy.
Without the body only simplified guesswork and assumption can be projected.What of the hip bones,were the legs short or long,were the feet webbed,was the tail flattened,rounded,prehensile,long or short?
The teeth look like fish catchers in which case it may swallow its food fresh and whole not requiring a larder for softening the flesh(i have seen salties swallow whole fresh barramundi they have ambushed).The teeth also look too long to roll and drown large prey as do modern salt water crocs.Could it have been a grasping bleeding technique employed?
Are the teeth rounded,serrated or bladed? Are they hollow or solid???????
PS,Not sure what timeline the Crustacious period occured,it maybe a sub period
What a great skull, can’t wait to see the rest of this creature. Have you ever seen anything so close to a dragon? I can easily picture this thing with two large nostrils on the end of that snout and two large fleshy horns on the other end.
Renee: 90 million years ago was during the Cretaceous period.
You made absolutely no sense, he nick named it that because of the way the teeth are formed and placed not because of what it might have lived like. And judging by the way you spelled Cretaceous, you are in no position to disqute with a professional Paleontologist. Therefore, you just got learned.
Anonymous for the win.
Crocodilians are much more interesting than most people think. They were just as fascinating as dinosaurs.