Eurekasaurus! Paleontologists have just discovered a large group of crocodiles in the Saharan desert in Africa. They have found many new species of ancient crocodiles that challenge the way people think of crocs today. They have been given colorful nicknames such as PancakeCroc, DuckCroc, RatCroc, BoarCroc and DogCroc.
Each of them show strange characteristics of crocodiles. PancakeCroc had a long, wide mouth that probably ate medium sized dinosaurs. Some of these fossils show that a few species could stand upright and run down dinosaurs! Yuckasaurus! Good thing I can fly.
Others such as BoarCroc sported large tusks that came out of their mouth. The new crocodiles also had brains that were different from modern ones, suggesting that they could have been much smarter.
One last important thing about this discovery is the kind of area they found these fossils in. The Saharan desert is now dry and harsh but these fossils show it was once a swampy, marshland with lots of water. Strange how the Earth changes over the years…. millions of years!
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