Ancient Seas #2

*cough* Rivers *cough*

Sarcosuchus

Photo: Max Thomas

Kingdom: Animalia

Class: Reptillia

Conservation Status: Extinct (EX)

Found: Africa (sometimes South America)

Era: Cretaceous

Lived: 112 million years ago

Diet: Fish

Weight: Up to 8 tonnes*

Size: 11-12m (36-39ft)*

Habitat: Tropical regions, freshwater rivers. 

*Estimates

The Sarcosuchus is a giant crocodylian which lived over 112 million years ago, during the Cretaceous era. It is a distant relative of the modern living crocodylians, but has no direct living relatives as they are technically a pholidosaur.  Fragments of this gargantuan "croc" were first found between 1946-1956 by French paleontologists. More complete speciemens were not found until the late 20th century. From the fragments, scientists were able to extrapolate the estimated 11-12m size of the Sarcosuchus, which is over twice the size of the largest modern crocodile.

The initial fragments were from the skull and provided enough information for the Sarcosuchus to earn the nickname "SuperCroc". SuperCroc had a long snout, which was roughly 75% of the total length. More importantly, SuperCroc had a lot of teeth - a whole lot of teeth. On the upper jaw are 70 teeth and 62 teeth on the lower jaw; making a total of 132 teeth. They had an over bite to fit all those teeth in!

At the end of their snouts, they had a depression called a bulla. It was present in both male and females, so it does not appear to be a gender specific trait. There is some debate as to what they were used for. Some believed they were used as an enhanced olfactory gland or perhaps even a weapon. It is theorised that it could have been used as a means of vocalisation or simply that the larger the bulla to more attractive the SuperCroc. As an extinct species, it is hard to say exactly why and what it was used for witout further evidence. It may be that we never know.

It is estimated that they had a life span of 50-60 years and it is believed that they achieved their massive size because they never stopped growing in all that time. Modern crocodiles reach full size at around 10 years. Another difference between modern crocodiles and SuperCroc is their skin. Both have armour plates called osteoderns but SuperCrocs' armour plates were continuous and not broken up like modern crocodiles. This would have made Sarcosuchus inflexible but, cleary from their size, it didn't affect their ability to eat.

Their diet was estimated to be fish which they would have hunted submerged in the water, once again like their modern counterparts. It is postulated that their eyes were telescopic, meaning they could only go up and down, not right to left. This would have been a great asset in their hunting style. This would have been an asset as they shared a food source with Spinosaurus, one of the largest dinosaurs that lived.

Climate change would have been a major factor in their extinction. Their humid, tropical enviroment dried up to become arid, killing their homes and food source. Where they lived is now the Sahara Desert - so it plenty dry, indeed!

Comparison to human.

Fun Facts

• Sarcosuchus means 'flesh crocodile'.
• It is pronouced "sar-ko-su-kus".
• They are roughly the same size as a whale shark.
• And they weighed up to twice as much as much as an elephant.