Crocodile From Hell, Part II

And I thought this guy was bad.  Now a 9-foot tall “walking crocodile” has been found from late Triassic deposits, around 230 million years ago.  Jeanna Bryner reports:

A 9-foot-tall beast with bladelike teeth once stalked the warm and wet environs of what is now North Carolina some 230 million years ago, before dinosaurs came onto the scene there, scientists have found.

Now called Carnufex carolinensis, the crocodile ancestor likely walked on its hind legs, preying on armored reptiles and early mammal relatives in its ecosystem, the researchers say.

They named it Carnufex, meaning "butcher" in Latin, because of its long skull, which resembles a knife, and its bladelike teeth, which it likely used to slice flesh off the bones of prey, said lead study author Lindsay Zanno, of NC State University and the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. "'Butcher' seemed a very appropriate way to get that into the minds of people," Zanno told Live Science in an interview.

This is a part of the early Pseudosuchians, which are largely included in the archosaurs. The big forms, as with the large dinosaurs, did not survive the K-T extinction

Food For the Snake

A distant relative of the modern crocodile has been found in the Cerrejon formation in Columbia, dating it to around 60 million years old. The importance for the find lies in that it was probably preyed upon by Titanoboa. The story notes:

While Cerrejonisuchus is not directly related to modern crocodiles, it played an important role in the early evolution of South American rainforest ecosystems, said Jonathan Bloch, a Florida Museum vertebrate paleontologist and associate curator.

"Clearly this new fossil would have been part of the food-chain, both as predator and prey," said Bloch, who co-led the fossil-hunting expeditions to Cerrejon with Smithsonian paleobotanist Carlos Jaramillo. "Giant snakes today are known to eat crocodylians, and it is not much of a reach to say Cerrejonisuchus would have been a frequent meal for Titanoboa. Fossils of the two are often found side-by-side."

Lunch!

----------------
Now playing: Stan Getz - Yesterdays
via FoxyTunes

A Challenge to Evolutionary Theory?

Cairns Post has a review of a book by Henry Gobus called Human Ascent, in which some very peculiar things are said. The article, by Daniel Bateman, relates the following from the author:

"So, evolution is a holistic process rather than divided from the dinosaurs, mammals and the human era, which Darwinists see as separate events and not linked together."

Using the saltwater crocodile as an example, Mr Gobus said the predators originated during the age of the dinosaurs, about 240 million years ago.

"With such a significant time period to their credit, and a history in which they must have had innumerable environmental experiences, why haven't crocodiles developed concepts of electronics and the like?

Well, for starters, the fact that the question is being asked in this way makes me suspicious that Mr. Gobus does not understand evolutionary theory. There are very few animals on the planet as well adapted as the crocodile. It has a streamlined body, long snout, extremely powerful jaws, rows of jagged teeth, and a generally nasty disposition. The fact that it has not changed in millions of years ought to be an indication to Mr. Gobus that it is remarkably well adapted to its environment. It hasn't evolved to need electronics because you don't need that kind of thing in the swamp. Evolution acts with what it has and the precursors to crocodiles and alligators were basal reptiles that evolved during the Cretaceous. It never occurs to evolutionary biologists that evolution proceeds differently depending on whether you are a dinosaur or a mammal. I have not read the book and should probably suspend too much judgment but what the author is quoted as saying above is daft.

Crocodiles From Hell

Yahoo News has a story originating from Agence France Press about new crocodile fossils that have been discovered in the Sahara Desert. The author notes:

The fossils of five hitherto unknown bizarre-looking crocodiles which roamed the world 100 million years ago have been unearthed in the Sahara desert, US scientists revealed Thursday.

The five now extinct species -- dubbed BoarCroc, RatCroc, DogCroc, DuckCroc and PancakeCroc because of their strange appearances -- were ancestors of the modern-day reptiles and evolved at the same time as dinosaurs.

"These species open a window on a croc world completely foreign to what was living on northern continents," said National Geographic explorer-in-residence Paul Sereno.

Funny names aside, these were evidently no animals to be taken lightly. The story continues:

Significantly, Sereno's team found the five oddball crocs had long legs allowing them to walk upright like mammals rather than slither with their bellies to the ground.

That gave them speed during hunting and when they fled from danger to seek refuge in the water.

Another piece of the puzzle.