Archives of The Cold Blooded News

The Newsletter of the Colorado Herpetological Society

Volume 29, Number 1;   January, 2002

Monstrous Croc Dined on Dinosaurs

By Paul Recer, ASSOCIATED PRESS

That's a scene researchers think was routine 110 million years ago. The prey could have been a large dinosaur, but the crocodile was immense -- longer than a school bus and weighing about 10 tons.

Dinosaur hunters led by Paul C. Sereno of the University of Chicago uncovered fossilized remains of the giant croc and for the first time assembled them into a replica of the ancient reptile.

"When this thing grew into an adult, it was really a monster," Sereno said. "This thing could have easily pulled down a good-sized dinosaur."

The fossils were found last year in what is now a desert in Niger.

.In the age of the dinosaurs, it was a verdant river valley, alive with dinosaurs and at least five types of crocodiles. A report on the discovery was published Thursday by the journal Science on its web site.

Sereno said that the elongated skull of the Sarcosuchus imperator, or "flesh crocodile emperor," is about 6 feet in length and dominated by narrow jaws studded with more than 100 teeth.

The head, body and part of the tall of the crocodile was covered with armorlike plates called scutes.

Each of these scutes had 40 growth rings, and Sereno estimated the animal was about 80 percent fully grown.

Based on an analysis of these rings and other signs, Sereno said it likely took 50 to 60 years for the animal to reach full growth.