Philosophy
Now wouldn't this give Steve Irwin a smile.
New fossils unearthed in what is now the Sahara desert reveal a once-swampy world
divided up among a half-dozen species of unusual and perhaps intelligent crocodiles, researchers reported on Thursday.
They have given some of the new species snappy names -- BoarCroc, RatCroc, DogCroc, DuckCroc and PancakeCroc -- but say their findings help build an understanding of how crocodilians were and remain such a successful life form.
They lived during the Cretaceous period 145 million to 65 million years ago, when the continents were closer together and the world warmer and wetter than it is now.
"We were surprised to find so many species from the same time in the same place," said paleontologist Hans Larsson of McGill University in Montreal who worked on the study.
"Each of the crocs apparently had different diets, different behaviors. It appears they had divided up the ecosystem, each species taking advantage of it in its own way."
Larsson and Paul Sereno of the University of Chicago, funded by National Geographic, studied the jaws, teeth and what few bones they had of the crocodiles. They also did CT scans, which are computer-enhanced x-rays, to see inside the skulls.
Two of the species, DogCroc and DuckCroc, had brains that looked different from those of modern crocodiles.
"They may have had slightly more sophisticated brain function than living crocs because active hunting on land usually requires more brain power than merely waiting for prey to show up," Larsson said in a statement.
RatCroc, a new species formally named Araripesuchus rattoides, was found in Morocco and would have used its buck-toothed lower jaw to grub for food.
PancakeCroc, known scientifically as Laganosuchus thaumastos, was 20 feet long with a big, flat head.
DuckCroc represents new fossils found in Niger from a previously known species called Anatosuchus minor. It would have eaten grubs and frogs with its broad snout.
The more ferocious BoarCroc was also 20 feet long but ran upright and had a jaw built for ramming, with three pairs of knife-like teeth.
Some walked upright with their legs under the body like a land mammal instead of sprawled out to the sides, bellies touching the ground.
"Their amphibious talents in the past may be the key to understanding how they flourished in, and ultimately survived, the dinosaur era," Sereno wrote in a separate article for National Geographic.
- Year Of The Dragon
Today is the Chinese new year and the start of the year of the dragon. In the set of signs of the Chinese zodiac cycle, the dragon is the only mythical member. While imaginary, the dragon is to be found in stories from cultures across the...
- Inside Nature's Giants - Crocodiles
Crocodiles have been around virtually unchanged (externally at least) for a very long time, at least since the time of the dinosaurs. We mammals may think of ourselves as the present culmination of the evolutionary process, but crocodiles achieved the...
- Raptorex--t. Rex Precursor And How Science Works
This is a fine example how some areas of science are subject to change. Science is an evolving disciple of knowledge. "Fossil Find Challenges Theories on T. Rex" by Henry Fountain September 18th, 2009 New York Times Paleontologists said Thursday that...
- An Exam From May 9th, 1941
[Click to enlarge.] "1941 science test shows how things have changed" by Dan Vergano June 27th, 2009 USA TODAY Some of us might rather forget our old science exams. But sometimes they still have lessons to offer. For example, take a 1941 exam unearthed...
- "peking Man's" Age--how Science Works
This is a good working example of how science works...that it is for the most part a venue of discovery and change...much like the standard view that the sun's core is a gaseous mass of hydrogen and challenged by 40 plus academic years of study by...
Philosophy
Crocs in the Sahara
Now wouldn't this give Steve Irwin a smile.
"New fossils reveal a world full of crocodiles"
by [editor]
Sandra Maler
November 19th, 2009
Reuters
by [editor]
Sandra Maler
November 19th, 2009
Reuters
New fossils unearthed in what is now the Sahara desert reveal a once-swampy world
divided up among a half-dozen species of unusual and perhaps intelligent crocodiles, researchers reported on Thursday.
They have given some of the new species snappy names -- BoarCroc, RatCroc, DogCroc, DuckCroc and PancakeCroc -- but say their findings help build an understanding of how crocodilians were and remain such a successful life form.
They lived during the Cretaceous period 145 million to 65 million years ago, when the continents were closer together and the world warmer and wetter than it is now.
"We were surprised to find so many species from the same time in the same place," said paleontologist Hans Larsson of McGill University in Montreal who worked on the study.
"Each of the crocs apparently had different diets, different behaviors. It appears they had divided up the ecosystem, each species taking advantage of it in its own way."
Larsson and Paul Sereno of the University of Chicago, funded by National Geographic, studied the jaws, teeth and what few bones they had of the crocodiles. They also did CT scans, which are computer-enhanced x-rays, to see inside the skulls.
Two of the species, DogCroc and DuckCroc, had brains that looked different from those of modern crocodiles.
"They may have had slightly more sophisticated brain function than living crocs because active hunting on land usually requires more brain power than merely waiting for prey to show up," Larsson said in a statement.
RatCroc, a new species formally named Araripesuchus rattoides, was found in Morocco and would have used its buck-toothed lower jaw to grub for food.
PancakeCroc, known scientifically as Laganosuchus thaumastos, was 20 feet long with a big, flat head.
DuckCroc represents new fossils found in Niger from a previously known species called Anatosuchus minor. It would have eaten grubs and frogs with its broad snout.
The more ferocious BoarCroc was also 20 feet long but ran upright and had a jaw built for ramming, with three pairs of knife-like teeth.
Some walked upright with their legs under the body like a land mammal instead of sprawled out to the sides, bellies touching the ground.
"Their amphibious talents in the past may be the key to understanding how they flourished in, and ultimately survived, the dinosaur era," Sereno wrote in a separate article for National Geographic.
- Year Of The Dragon
Today is the Chinese new year and the start of the year of the dragon. In the set of signs of the Chinese zodiac cycle, the dragon is the only mythical member. While imaginary, the dragon is to be found in stories from cultures across the...
- Inside Nature's Giants - Crocodiles
Crocodiles have been around virtually unchanged (externally at least) for a very long time, at least since the time of the dinosaurs. We mammals may think of ourselves as the present culmination of the evolutionary process, but crocodiles achieved the...
- Raptorex--t. Rex Precursor And How Science Works
This is a fine example how some areas of science are subject to change. Science is an evolving disciple of knowledge. "Fossil Find Challenges Theories on T. Rex" by Henry Fountain September 18th, 2009 New York Times Paleontologists said Thursday that...
- An Exam From May 9th, 1941
[Click to enlarge.] "1941 science test shows how things have changed" by Dan Vergano June 27th, 2009 USA TODAY Some of us might rather forget our old science exams. But sometimes they still have lessons to offer. For example, take a 1941 exam unearthed...
- "peking Man's" Age--how Science Works
This is a good working example of how science works...that it is for the most part a venue of discovery and change...much like the standard view that the sun's core is a gaseous mass of hydrogen and challenged by 40 plus academic years of study by...