Bizarre Reptile Challenges Notion Of Crocodiles As 'living Fossils'

[Moontanman]

Bizarre Reptile Challenges Notion of Crocodiles as 'Living Fossils'

 

Life reconstruction of Simosuchus clarki as it may have appeared walking through the semi-arid grasslands of Madagascar in the Cretaceous Period. (Credit: Photo of type locality by Raymond Rogers; sculpture of Simosuchus by Boban Filipovic; montage by Lucille Betti-Nash)

 

 

ScienceDaily (Dec. 10, 2010) — We all know that crocodiles are reptiles with long snouts, conical teeth, strong jaws and long tails. But according to researchers at Stony Brook University in New York, we don’t know what we thought we knew. Rather, some crocodiles possessed a dazzling array of adaptations that resulted in unique and sometimes bizarre anatomy, including blunt, pug-nosed snouts, pudgy bodies and short tails.

 

 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101210094416.htm