14 DAY TRIAL // According to what evidence we have collected from the fossil record, dinosaurs ruled the land over what is now the Sahara desert more than 100 million years ago. But recent investigations have also revealed some of their companions, including an entire ensemble of crocodiles that seems to have accompanied the giant lizards where they went. A number of new croc species, each sporting its own distinguishable physical traits, have been found in the vast ocean of sand, LiveScience reports.
Fossilized remains from five different crocodile species have been unearthed in a recent effort, of which only two were previously studied. The other three are completely new to Science, and may provide scientists with more accurate insight into how the landscape looked at the time, species-wise. The recent digs were coordinated by experts at the University of Chicago, who were led by Paul Sereno. The expeditions that eventually saw the recovery of these fossils started taking place in 2000, the team reports.
“We were surprised to find so many species from the same time in the same place. 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,” McGill University paleontologist and study researcher Hans Larsson explains. Some of these species apparently held traits belonging both to land- and sea-based animals, exhibiting the ability to walk with their legs underneath while on land, and to start acting more “fish-like” while in the waters.
“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 reveals. Details of the team's work will be published in an upcoming issue of the respected scientific journal ZooKeys. The three new species have been named Kaprosuchus saharicus, Araripesuchus rattoides, and Laganosuchus thaumastos.