Emperor Crocodile: An underwater demon in Cretaceous North Africa
Crocodiles can always be equated with viciousness and coldness in our impression, and thriller horror movies such as "Killing Crocodile Pond" and "Prehistoric Crocodile" have deepened this impression. Compared to the crocodiles that lived on prehistoric Earth, most of the crocodiles on Earth today are little guys. In order to introduce the famous crocodiles of prehistory more comprehensively and systematically, the little robber dragon has sorted together the collection of relevant popular science articles previously released to form the "prehistoric giant crocodile" series, hoping to satisfy everyone's curiosity.
The second in the "Prehistoric Crocodile" series is the Emperor Crocodile.
Caption: Rapalão (first from left) is studying fossils in the field, picture from the web
After the end of World War II, the French paleontologist Albert-Félix de Lapparent organized a group to make several expeditions to the Sahara Desert. In the continental kem kem beds formation, paleontologists have found fossils of many large crocodiles, located near Olef in present-day Algeria. Later, in southern Morocco, new fossils were discovered, including skulls, teeth, vertebrae, and nail plates. In 1957, H. Fore faure) found several isolated fossil teeth in the elrhaz formation north of Niger, but these teeth are much larger than those found in Rapalão.
Image note: The tooth fossil of the emperor crocodile, picture from the network
Through a study of fossils of the giant crocodile from North Africa, French paleontologist de Broin pointed out that it was a long-snouted crocodile, like the Indian crocodile today. Later, a team from the French Commission for Alternative Energy and Atomic Energy (Who Knows Why) found a nearly complete skull in northern Niger in 1964 and sent it to Paris for study.
After research, Broin and Phillipe Taquet established the genus sarcosuchus in 1966, the scientific name comes from the Greek words "sarco" (meaning "muscle"), "suchus" (meaning "crocodile"), meaning "muscle crocodile". From the original meaning of the scientific name, the imperial crocodile translated as "muscle crocodile" is more accurate, but it lacks domineering, so Chinese name finally chose the imperial crocodile.
Photo note: The fossil of the emperor crocodile preserved in the French Museum of Natural History, picture from the Internet
The discovery of such a giant crocodile in North Africa should have been a sensational thing in the world, but the French did not know how to publicize it, and the imperial crocodile was so unknown for many years.
Photo note: Serino (the man in red) with the discovery of fossils of alligators, image from the Internet
Between 1997 and 2000, Paul Sereno, a paleontologist from the United States, led an expedition back to Niger, believing that the expedition would uncover a large number of paleontological fossils. Deep into the deserted Sahara Desert, after arduous excavations, the expedition found fossils weighing a total of 20 tons, including seven emperor crocodile fossils. The seven emperor crocodiles found in Serino include different stages of ontogeny from juvenile to adulthood, including intact fossils.
Upon his return to the United States, the propaganda-savvy Serino immediately held a press conference to present his findings, and he also cooperated with National Geographic to introduce the prehistoric giant crocodile. In a new issue of National Geographic, the Emperor Crocodile is the protagonist, and a restored image of its domineering side leak appears on the cover of the magazine, with the following headline: "Super Giant Crocodile, it does not walk with dinosaurs because it feeds on dinosaurs." ”（super croc---it didn’t walk with dinosaurs... it ate them.）
Caption: Huge skull of Serina with a crocodile, image from the web
Image note: The Emperor Crocodile on the cover of National Geographic, the picture comes from the Internet
Illustration: 1:1 model of the emperor crocodile, picture from the network
In order to complement the publicity, National Geographic and Serino worked together to restore a 1:1 model of the emperor crocodile, so that an "old" crocodile finally caused a sensation in the world and became a big star in paleontology.
The emperor crocodile is a prehistoric super crocodile, and its huge size is its business card. How big is the emperor crocodile, the researchers measured the average head-to-body ratio of the Indian crocodile and the saltwater crocodile and then put in the largest fossil of the emperor crocodile skull (1.6 meters), and concluded that its body length is 11.65 meters, weighing about 8 tons.
Image note: The size of the emperor crocodile compared with humans, the picture comes from the network
Image note: Comparison of the emperor crocodile and the human skull, the picture comes from the network
It must take a long time to grow to a body length of more than 11 meters, which also shows that the emperor crocodile is a long-lived animal. According to the study of a piece of emperor crocodile skeleton, when the emperor crocodile reaches the age of 40, its body length is only 80% of that of adult individuals, which means that the 40-year-old emperor crocodile is still a sub-adult individual, which is really scary to death. When the emperor crocodile reaches the age of 50 to 60, it reaches adulthood, and then they will continue to grow with age, I can't imagine how big a hundred-year-old emperor crocodile must be!
Such a huge body size has been able to win the throne of the largest crocodile, and the only ones that can compete with it are the crocodile and the Prussian crocodile (not the body length, but the size).
The emperor crocodile is a terrible predator, and its size is very large. The large head has a large head, the head of the emperor crocodile is more than 1.6 meters long, and its mouth and nose are relatively slender, accounting for 75% of the total head length, a bit like the Indian crocodile. At the front of the snout of the alligator's mouth and nose there is a large protrusion (called a "bulge", bulla), which is likely to act to improve the sense of smell. The emperor crocodile's nose and eyes are located at the top of the head, and they only need to surface their heads to breathe and observe.
Image note: The long mouth of the Indy crocodile, picture from the Internet
Picture note: The emperor crocodile has a mouth full of fangs on its huge mouth, and the picture comes from the Internet
The emperor crocodile's most terrifying weapon is its super large mouth, which is full of sharp teeth. There are 70 teeth in the upper jaw of the emperor crocodile and 62 teeth in the lower jaw, and its teeth are thick and conical, and they can easily penetrate the skin and flesh of their prey (my back is a little cold).
Picture note: The bone plate on the emperor crocodile, the picture comes from the network
Like today's crocodiles, the giant body of the emperor crocodile also has bone pieces (bone in the skin), which play a role in protecting the body, but when they become adults, few animals can threaten themselves. The emperor crocodile has two pairs of fin-length legs on both sides of the body, and there are records showing that the emperor crocodile has a wider belt structure, indicating that their land mobility can not be underestimated.
The emperor crocodile lived in the late Apudi to early Albi orders of the Early Cretaceous 112 million years ago, when the Sahara was very different from today. According to stratigraphic information, the Cretaceous Sahara was hot and humid, and there were large rivers and lakes on the ground, which were the home of the emperor crocodile.
Taking the Elrez group, which found the largest number of emperor crocodile fossils, as an example, the dinosaurs living at that time included Iguanodon and Haoyong, Nigerosaurus, which belonged to the sauropods, and theropods, theacross, and Cryptocephalus. So many dinosaurs are obviously the food sent to the door, the emperor crocodile as long as lurking in the place where they often drink water, when there are dinosaurs approaching, a surprise attack to drag the other party to the water and drown, you can eat dinosaur meat.
Picture note: The emperor crocodile attacks the heroic dragon, the picture comes from the network
Perhaps contrary to our assumptions, a 2014 biomechanical analysis of the skulls of the emperor crocodile showed that they could not perform the same terrifying "death roll" as today's saltwater crocodile and Nile crocodile, that is, they could not tear off the flesh of the body of a large animal. Considering the elongated snout of the emperor crocodile, it is not suitable for biting large prey that can struggle, so the main food of the emperor crocodile is fish, and it will only occasionally attack small dinosaurs. If you compare the threat to large dinosaurs, the emperor crocodile is far less ferocious and terrifying than the crocodile introduced earlier.
The emperor crocodile belongs to the family Pholidosauridae, a family characterized by its elongated snout and is a freshwater and offshore fisherman. The crocodile family lived between 167 million and 89.3 million years ago, disappearing before the end of the Mesozoic Era, so there are no crocodiles in the same family as Dillon today.
Resources:
1.sereno, paul c.; larson, hans c. e.; sidor, christian a.; gado, boubé (2001). "the giant crocodyliform sarcosuchus from the cretaceous of africa". science 294 (5546): 1516–9. doi:10.1126/science.1066521. pmid 11679634.
2.buffetaut, e.; taquet, p. (1977). "the giant crocodilian sarcosuchus in the early cretaceous of brazil and niger" (pdf). paleontology 20 (1).
3.woodward, a. r.; white, j. h.; linda, s. b. (1995). "maximum size of the alligator (alligator mississippiensis)". j. herpetol 29 (4).
4.wemuth, h. (1964). "the relationship between head, trunk and tail length in the recent crocodiles". senckenbergiana biologica (in german) 45.
Photo / Part of the network (intrusion and deletion)
Text / Paleontological Exploration (Jiang Hong)
Typography / Paleontological exploration