Giant Crocodiles Once Preyed on Massive Mammals in South America

A Car-Sized Crocodile Hunted Ton-Sized Prey 12 Million Years Ago, Bite Marks Reveal

Purussaurus was heavier, longer, and, judging by these fossils, hunted animals far bigger than any modern crocodile. The post A Car-Sized Crocodile Hunted Ton-Sized Prey 12 Million Years Ago, Bite Marks Reveal appeared first on StudyFinds.

Giant Crocodiles Once Preyed on Massive Mammals in South America

Paleontologists have uncovered the first direct physical evidence that colossal prehistoric crocodiles hunted large plant-eating mammals in what is now Colombia roughly 12 million years ago. The post Giant Crocodiles Once Preyed on Massive Mammals in South America appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Clash of the Miocene Giants: Fossilized Bites Reveal Colombia’s Ancient Apex Predators

The Middle Miocene of South America was a land defined by dramatic evolutionary experiments and unusual ecological dynamics. Long before the Great American Biotic Interchange allowed North American predators like saber-toothed cats and bears to march southward, South America was an isolated island continent. In this ancient ecosystem, the ratio of mammalian predators to their prey was strangely low. To fill the void at the top of the food chain,…