A Sarcosuchus scares off a Spinosaurus which disturbed its hibernation. (2001) based on modern crocodilians. Most members of Pholidosauridae had long, slender snouts and they all were aquatic, inhabiting several different environments, some forms are interpreted as marine, capable of tolerating saltwater while others, like Sarcosuchus, were freshwater forms, the most primitive members of the clade, however, were found in coastal settings, zones of mixing of freshwater and marine waters. The study of this material by French paleontologist France De Broin helped identify them as coming from a new long snouted crocodile. [2] Within this group it is most closely related to the North American genus Terminonaris. Sarcosuchus was a giant relative of crocodiles, with fully grown individuals estimated to have reached up to 11–12 m (36–39 ft) in total length and 8 tonnes (8.8 short tons) in weight. You really can’t get an idea of how big this crocodile was until you have looked at Sarcosuchus pictures, especially ones showing them as compared to humans.

These remains were fragments of the skull, vertebrae, teeth and scutes. It had somewhat telescoped eyes and a long snout comprising 75% of the length of the skull. The stratigraphy of the region and the aquatic fauna that was found therein indicates that it was an inland fluvial environment, entirely freshwater in nature with a humid tropical climate. LadyofHats / Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, Public Domain. [2][5] The largest known skull of S. imperator (the type specimen) is 1.6 m (5.25 ft) long (1.5 m (4.92 ft) in the midline), and it was estimated that the individual it belonged to had a total body length of 11.65 m (38.2 ft),[2] its snout-vent length of 5.7 m (18.7 ft) was estimated using linear equations for the saltwater crocodile[6] and in turn this measurement was used to estimate its body weight at 8 metric tons (8.8 short tons). Sarcosuchus may have had a bite of up to 9 (or less) tonnes (around 18,000 pounds), A Sarcosuchus and a Carcharodontosaurus fights over a Paralititan mired in mud. However, extrapolation from the femur of a subadult individual as well as measurements of the skull width further showed that the largest S. imperator was significantly smaller than was estimated by Sereno et al. [2] Approximately 40 lines of arrested growth (LAG) were counted in these thin sections, suggesting that S. imperator took 50 to 60 years to reach adult size. You'd think a crocodile as big and heavy as Sarcosuchus would have feasted exclusively on the plus-sized dinosaurs of its habitat—say, half-ton hadrosaurs that wandered too close to the river for a drink. It dates from the early  Cretaceous Period of what is now Africa and South America and is one of the largest crocodile-like reptiles that ever lived. However, a Carcharodontosaurus arrived on the scene and too tried to claim the Paralititan. Not so with Sarcosuchus, the entire body was covered with these plates, except for the end of its tail and the front of its head. O’Brien et al. Within this group it is most closely related to the North American genus Terminonaris. In t… These remains were fragments of the skull, vertebrae, teeth, and scutes. One hundred million years ago, northern Africa was a lush, tropical region crisscrossed by numerous rivers; it has only been relatively recently (geologically speaking) that this area dried out and became overspread by the Sahara, the largest desert in the world. The upper jaw was also noticeably longer than the lower one leaving a gap between them when the jaws were shut, creating an overbite. The remains of S. imperator were found in a region of the Ténéré Desert named Gadoufaoua, more specifically in the Elrhaz Formation of the Tegama Group, dating from the late Aptian to the early Albian of the Early Cretaceous, approximately 112 million years ago. Although it's unlikely that Sarcosuchus deliberately hunted dinosaurs for lunch, there's no reason it had to tolerate other predators that competed with it for limited food resources.
However, unlike the ghara, which is only found in male gharial, the bulla is present in all Sarcosuchus skulls that have been found so far, suggesting that it was not a sexually dimorphic trait. However, unlike the ghara, which is only found in male gharial, the bulla is present in all Sarcosuchus skulls that have been found so far, suggesting that it was not a sexually dimorphic trait. However, at the time this crocodile lived, this area was a tropical region with rivers and plenty of vegetation. One of the most interesting facts about Sarcosuchus, however, wasn’t its enormous size but its eyes. It dates from the early Cretaceous Period of what is now Africa and South America and is one of the largest crocodile-like reptiles that ever lived. This was Sarcosuchus. It was one of the largest crocodile-line reptiles, reaching an average estimate of 9 m (30 ft) and 3.5 metric tons (3.9 short tons), but estimated to grow up to 9.5 m (31 ft) in body length and weigh up to 4.3 metric tons (4.7 short tons). It had somewhat telescoped eyes and a long snout comprising 75% of the length of the skull. [2][11][22] S. imperator shared the waters with the holostean fish Lepidotus and the coelacanth Mawsonia. Everything on Paleontology, curiosities, facts, etc…. With a skull nearly two meters long, it's more than twice the size of any modern croc. Another interesting fact is that Sarcosuchus had a bulbous depression at the end of its snout and paleontologists aren’t really sure what its purpose was. By evolution, the eyes of the creature was somewhat telescoped set next to a longsnout that constituted 75% of the head’s total length. It was first discovered during the 1950s in Aoulef, Algeria and Gara Kamboute, Tunisia by a team led by French paleontologist Albert-Félix de Lapparent.

Meanwhile, S. hartti was found in the Reconcavo basin of Brazil, specifically in the Ilhas Formation of the Bahia series, it was a shallow lacustrine environment dating from the late Aptian, similar in age to the habitat of S. imperator, with similar aquatic fauna, including Lepidotus and two species of Mawsonia.

The climate eventually changed though and caused the Sahara to spread across the region. ), Public Domain / Internet Archive Book Images. It is known from two species, S. imperator from the early Albian Elrhaz Formation of Niger and S. hartti from the Late Hauterivian of northeastern Brazil, other material is known from Morocco and Tunisia and possibly Libya and Mali. Sarcosuchus has an expansion at the end of its snout known as a bulla, which has been compared with the ghara seen in gharials. The bulbous depression, or "bulla," at the end of Sarcosuchus' long, narrow snout continues to be a mystery to paleontologists. Lost World: Ouranosaurus • Spinosaurus • Crocodile • Onchopristis • Rugops • Carcharodontosaurus • Sarcosuchus At the end of its snout, Sarcosuchus presented an expansion, known as a bulla, which has been compared to the ghara seen in gharials. A full-grown SuperCroc would have been more than capable of breaking the neck of a large theropod, such as, say, the contemporary, fish-eating Spinosaurus, the largest meat-eating dinosaur that ever lived. [13], Simplified cladogram after Fortier et al. In 1964, a complete skull of Sacosuchus was discovered in Gadoufaoua, Niger and promptly sent to Paris for further study. Even as babies, tyrannosaurs had a "distinct chin.". [2] A similar growth strategy has been suggested for the equally titanic crocodylian Deinosuchus, based on similar criteria. There were 35 teeth in each side of the upper jaw, while in the lower jaw there were 31 teeth in each side. Sarcosuchus (meaning “flesh crocodile”) is a genus of crocodyliform and distant relative of living crocodylians that lived 112 million years ago. [2][16], Fossils were found in 2010 in the Ifezouane Formation of Morocco. ThoughtCo (left) and ThoughtCo / Valerie Everett / CC BY-SA 2.0 (right). ", Sarcosuchus Is Also Known as the SuperCroc, Sarcosuchus Kept Growing Throughout Its Life Span, Sarcosuchus Adults May Have Weighed More Than 10 Tons, Sarcosuchus May Have Tangled With Spinosaurus, The Eyes of Sarcosuchus Rolled Up and Down, not Left and Right, Sarcosuchus Lived Where the Sahara Desert Now Lies. on How long was the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs? It is only then that you get a good idea of just how large these prehistoric crocodiles really were. Partial skeletons, numerous skulls and 20 tons of assorted other fossils were recovered from the deposits of the Elrhaz Formation, which has been dated as late Aptian or early Albian stages of the Late Cretaceous. The remains of S. imperator were found in a region of the Ténéré Desert named Gadoufaoua, more specifically in the Elrhaz Formation of the Tegama Group, dating from the late Aptian to the early Albian of the Early Cretaceous, approximately 112 million years ago. It grew to 12 metres and may have weighed 8 tonnes. Last Killers: Daspletosaurus • Chasmosaurus • Troodon • Edmontosaurus • Majungasaurus • Rahonavis • Centrosaurus, Fight for Life: Kimmerosaurus • Predator X • Stegosaurus • Camptosaurus • Allosaurus • Saurophaganax

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