Sarcosuchus was a giant relative of crocodiles, with fully grown individuals estimated to have reached up to 9 to 9.5 m (29.5 to 31.2 ft) in total length and 3.45 to 4.3 metric tons (3.80 to 4.74 short tons) in weight.
Have you ever wondered what the largest crocodile ever was? Based on fossil evidence, the longest crocodile ever to live was a Sarcosuchus imperator, who measured 40 feet long and weighed 17,600 pounds.
Ancient crocodiles were alive at the same time as dinosaurs. Some were nearly 40 feet long.
The research, published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, found that the Deinosuchus, a lineage of the giant crocodilians from North America, grew up to 33 feet long and “was the largest carnivore in its ecosystem,” in the late Cretaceous period about 75 to 82 million years ago.
But the crocodile family tree also forked about 100 million years ago, with the appearance of the enormous Sarcosuchus, which measured about 40 feet long from head to tail and weighed about 10 tons. There was also the slightly smaller Deinosuchus, which was about 30 feet long.
The crocodile was about 2 to 2.5 meters in length.
Gigantism in crocodiles has been reported several times in the fossil record. In North America, the oldest body fossil evidence of giant crocodiles is of Deinosuchus at about 82 million years, estimated to have been between eight to 12 metres long.
Being larger can provide many evolutionary advantages—bigger animals are less vulnerable to predators and can compete more assertively for resources. The existence of bigger herbivores also means that carnivorous animals have to grow in order to be effective hunters.
There are two main reasons crocodiles survived the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs. First, crocodiles can live for a very long time without food. Second, they lived in places that were the least affected when the asteroid hit Earth.
The crocodile that could gallop like a horse
That is until they unearthed Kaprosuchus saharicus and Laganosuchus thaumastos. Both of these species were found in the Sahara Desert at a dig site and may be the scariest crocodiles to have ever been found.
He was 6.17 m (20 ft 3 in) long and weighed 1,075 kg (2,370 lb). Currently, the largest living crocodile in captivity, named "Cassius", is kept at Marineland Crocodile Park, a zoo located at Green Island, Queensland, Australia. It measures 5.48 m (18 ft 0 in) in length and weighs approximately 1,300 kg (2,900 lb).
The biggest croc ever found, at 8.6m (28ft). Shot by a hunter in Queensland, Australia in 1957. Wendy Richards and 5,466 others like this.
Crocodiles have cold-blooded metabolisms, which means they were able to live for long periods of time in severe darkness, cold, and with very little food.
Some of them were about the size of their modern counterparts, but a few were giants. Deinosuchus, the “terror crocodile,” was an alligator that could grow to be almost 40 feet long and lurked in North America's swamps between 82 and 73 million years ago.
The fossilized remains of a 60-million-year-old, long-extinct, freshwater relative to the modern crocodile have been found by University of Florida researchers. The 20-foot-long, fish-eating ancient crocodile is believed to be the first known land animal from the Paleocene New World tropics.
There are two main reasons. First, crocodiles can live for a very long time without food. Second, they lived in places that were the least affected when the asteroid hit Earth.
In fact, birds are commonly thought to be the only animals around today that are direct descendants of dinosaurs. So next time you visit a farm, take a moment to think about it. All those squawking chickens are actually the closest living relatives of the most incredible predator the world has ever known!
Alligators & Crocodiles: These sizeable reptiles survived–even though other large reptiles did not. Birds: Birds are the only dinosaurs to survive the mass extinction event 65 million years ago.
Far bigger than any dinosaur, the blue whale is the largest known animal to have ever lived. An adult blue whale can grow to a massive 30m long and weigh more than 180,000kg - that's about the same as 40 elephants, 30 Tyrannosaurus Rex or 2,670 average-sized men.
The Antarctic blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus ssp. Intermedia) is the biggest animal on the planet, weighing up to 400,000 pounds (approximately 33 elephants) and reaching up to 98 feet in length.
Known as an ichthyosaur, the animal lived about 205 million years ago and was up to 85 feet long—almost as big as a blue whale, say the authors of a study describing the fossil published today in PLOS ONE.
The crocodile has played an important role in Egyptian culture for thousands of years. In addition to being linked to a deity, it was a food source, and parts of the animal, like its fat, were used as medicine to treat body pains, stiffness and even balding.
Surviving crocodiles did not change throughout millions of years because they arrived at an equilibrium where they were efficient and versatile enough that they did not need to evolve to exist, reports the Conversation.
Australian palaeontologists have revealed that dinosaurs were once on the menu of crocodiles. While piecing together the remains of a 93 million-year-old extinct relative of modern crocodiles, a team led by UNE postdoctoral researcher Dr Matt White found the remains of a juvenile dinosaur in the crocodile's gut region.