He hails from St. Augustine, Florida, and owns Crocodilian Specialist Services.
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Over 20 countries export crocodilian skins, according to statistics from the UN Environment Programme.
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The saltwater crocodile, the largest living crocodilian in the world, maxing out at 4,400 pounds.
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Here's hoping the state doesn't have to write a companion volume for that deadlier crocodilian cousin.
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"You've become an expert in crocodilian scalation," Dr. Raxworthy said to Ms. Meah, apparently a huge compliment.
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" He continued, "Obviously the person who did this doesn't care because they killed all my other crocodilian.
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Marketing It's tough to go far in Florida without witnessing the advertising prowess of the state's native crocodilian.
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Results showed that different areas of the crocodilian brain activated in the presence of complex sounds compared to basic noises.
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Pigment did not occur in the crocodilian, sauropod, or ornithischian eggs (the other two dinosaur groups), according to the study published in Nature.
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Of course, Florida is no stranger to the crocodilian clan, and many native alligators and crocodiles dwell in its rich wetlands and swamps.
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Leathers came in crocodilian textures — used in sweeping trench coats and abbreviated skirt suits — while draped silks formed slip dresses and cocktail blouses.
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These terrestrial crocodilian cousins did so well for themselves that some survived in South America millions of years after the extinction of the dinosaurs.
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Olympic officials have even arranged for five biologists to remove caimans, a type of crocodilian similar to alligators, that get too close to athletes and match-goers.
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New to the zoo are eight Indian gharials—critically endangered reptiles of the crocodilian order, indigenous to the Chambal River, in India—identifiable by their needle-nose snouts.
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The building housed crocodilian reptiles that were cared for by Robbie Keszey, who alongside his brother, Stephen, hosted the Discovery Channel reality show "Swamp Brothers," which aired in 2011 and 2012.
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A weird group of small crocodilian relatives called notosuchians, some of which were herbivores, were incredibly diverse in terrestrial ecosystems in southern continents, and I would love to see them running around now.
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Based on similarities they found between dinosaur and crocodilian hyoid bones, the researchers found that dinosaurs&apos tongues were probably like those of alligators and crocodiles — firmly attached to the floor of their mouths.
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The point of the new study was to determine how the crocodilian brain might respond to complex sounds, and to see how the resulting brain patterns might compare to those observed in mammals and birds.
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"It is surprising that this has not been investigated before, but many aspects of crocodilian biology have been neglected," said John Hutchinson, an evolutionary biomechanist at the Royal Veterinary College at the University of London.
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Image: Game of Thrones Wiki Lizard-lions are crocodilian animals, and from the sparse descriptions found in the books, they behave much like their real-world counterparts, lying in wait to ambush prey like floating logs.
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Watch: The Young Taxidermist Giving New Life to Dead Animals She went on to study zoology and cultural anthropology, before beating a path into the male-dominated field of conservation by specializing in crocodilian parasites for her doctorate.
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What started in 1893 as an improvised attraction where tourists waiting at a train stop paid to see locally captured gators, has evolved into one of the country's oldest zoos: The St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park, which claims to be the only one that features all 24 crocodilian species.
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Though it may sound like a species of rare Australian crocodilian, according to the retail behemoth, it's a mashup of a croissant and a flour tortilla: a flaky, layered affair that can be wrapped around taco filling, used as a pizza crust, transformed into a dessert, or (probably) worn as a hat.
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The Nacimiento Formation is interpreted as having had a fluvial and lacustrine depositional setting. O'Neill et al. interpreted Akanthosuchus as either a terrestrial crocodilian or a specialized, modestly sized, heavily armored aquatic crocodilian.
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Predators would have included tyrannosaurs and the giant crocodilian Deinosuchus rugosus.
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When a crocodilian is concerned about its safety, it will gape to expose the teeth and yellow tongue. If this doesn't work, the crocodilian gets a little more agitated and typically begins to make hissing sounds. After this, the crocodilian will start to change its posture dramatically to make itself look more intimidating. The body is inflated to increase apparent size.
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It was a small crocodilian, only about 60 centimetres long (24 in).
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Wounds on the jaw of an Eocene mesosuchian crocodilian as possible evidence for the antiquity of crocodilian intraspecific fighting behaviour, by Eric Buffetaut, Laboratoire de Paléontologie des Vertébrés, Université Paris VI, 4 place Jussieu, 75230 Paris Cedex 05, France. .
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Eoalligator is an extinct genus of crocodyloid crocodilian from Paleocene deposits in China.
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Healthy subadult The Nile crocodile is the largest crocodilian in Africa, and is generally considered the second-largest crocodilian after the saltwater crocodile. Typical size has been reported to be as much as , but this is excessive for actual average size per most studies and represents the upper limit of sizes attained by the largest animals in a majority of populations.Brazaitis, P. (1989). The forensic identification of crocodilian hides and products.
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One was defending its young,CrocBITE, Worldwide Crocodilian Attack Database: Siamese crocodile, 15 June 2008. Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory, Australia. another was probably defending itself,CrocBITE, Worldwide Crocodilian Attack Database: Siamese crocodile, 15 July 2012. Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory, Australia.
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A new species of crocodilian from the Torrejon Beds. American Museum Novitates 447:1-11.
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Crocodilian Biology Database. Retrieved 13 March 2006 from the Crocodile Specialist Group, Crocodile Species List, FAQ.
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"The Ancestral Crocodilian Protosuchus. Bulletin of the AMNH ; v. 97, Article 3." AMNH Library Digital Repository.
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This is the first time that Lepas anatifera has been recorded as an epibiont of a crocodilian.
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Tomistoma cairense did not have a Maxilla process within their lacrimal gland, which all extant crocodilian do.
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Crocodilian breeders have noted problems with the morbidity and mortality rate of neonatal Yacare Caiman and Morelet's Crocodiles.
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Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory, Australia. Four of them, the Siamese crocodile, broad-snouted caiman, spectacled caiman and yacare caiman, each are suspected to have been the perpetrator of a single fatal attack on a child (smaller and therefore a more likely target than an adult), but the exact species identity in these cases is not entirely certain.CrocBITE, Worldwide Crocodilian Attack Database: Siamese crocodile, 1 January 1928. Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory, Australia.CrocBITE, Worldwide Crocodilian Attack Database: Broad-snouted caiman, 20 January 1886. Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory, Australia.CrocBITE, Worldwide Crocodilian Attack Database: Spectacled caiman, 18 January 2015. Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory, Australia.CrocBITE, Worldwide Crocodilian Attack Database: Yacare caiman, 3 October 2017. Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory, Australia.
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Scale diagram showing the size of E. brumpti (orange) Euthecodon was large for a crocodilian. One specimen, LT 26306, found from the Turkana Basin, was estimated by skull length to have been around 10 m long.Storrs, G. W. (2003). Late Miocene-Early Pliocene crocodilian fauna of Lothagam, southwest Turkana Basin, Kenya.
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The Trogodiles were a race of crocodilian-like species of Rattatak. They first appeared in Star Wars: Clone Wars.
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Unlike its modern fresh water relatives, Gavialosuchus was an estuarine and coastal water crocodilian, living in shallow marine waters.
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Hypselornis is an extinct genus of fossil reptile, most likely a crocodilian, from the late Pliocene of India. Known only from a single toe bone, Hypselornis was originally mistakenly identified as a ratite bird related to the living cassowary before being re-identified as belonging to a large reptile, probably a crocodilian.
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Scutes have not been found with other articulated specimens of Thescelosaurus, though, and Morris's scutes could be crocodilian in origin.
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Ebenezer Emmons illustrated two fossil teeth in 1858. Most likely, they belonged to the crocodilian that would later be named Deinosuchus. In 1858, geologist Ebenezer Emmons described two large fossil teeth found in Bladen County, North Carolina. Emmons assigned these teeth to Polyptychodon, which he then believed to be "a genus of crocodilian reptiles".
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The role of predation in shaping crocodilian natural history. Herpetological Monographs, 27(1), 23-51.Chinery, M. (2000). Predators and Prey.
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According to the Crocodilian Species List, it is probably a generalist species, being able to adapt to a variety of prey.
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It is a robust crocodilian, strong for its size, and tends to carry its head high with its neck angled upwards.
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The Castilletes Formation record also expands the geographic range of Miocene endemic crocodilian faunas to latitudes equivalent to those of Central America.
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They performed a phylogenetic analysis and found Paratomistoma to be a derived tomistomine. It may have been a marine or coastal crocodilian.
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A caiman is an alligatorid crocodilian belonging to the subfamily Caimaninae, one of two primary lineages within Alligatoridae, the other being alligators.
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Tomistoma cairense is an extinct species of crocodilian, of the Tomistoma genus, that lived during the Lutetian stage of the Eocene era.
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Crocodilian eggshell is regarded as primitive because it only contains one type of calcite crystal and these crystals are arranged in "tight columns".
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Euparkeria was not as well adapted to bipedal locomotion as dinosaurs and its normal movement was probably more analogous to a crocodilian high walk.
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Charactosuchus is an extinct genus of crocodilian. It was assigned to the family Crocodylidae in 1988.Carroll, R. L.(1988). Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution.
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Britton, Adam (n.d.). Do crocodiles cry 'crocodile tears'? > Crocodilian Biology Database. Retrieved March 13, 2006 from the Crocodile > Specialist Group, Crocodile Species List, FAQ.
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In fact, crocodiles can and do generate tears, but they do not actually cry.Britton, Adam (n.d.). Do crocodiles cry 'crocodile tears'? Crocodilian Biology Database.
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Crocodilian breeders have noted problems with the growth and development of neonatal Yacare Caimans, which are known to suffer from stress induced mortality rates.
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Protoalligator is an extinct genus of crocodilian which lived during the Paleocene. It is considered to be an alligatoroid, but its exact phylogeny is uncertain.
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The species epithet "crocodilinus", as well as the common name, refer to the species' crocodilian appearance. The crocodile snake eel is used in Chinese medicine.
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Nanchangosaurus resembled a cross between an ichthyosaur and a crocodilian. It had a fusiform body, similar to a dolphin or an ichthyosaur, paddle-like limbs, with forelimbs being larger than hindlimbs, and a crocodilian-like tail for swimming through the water. It had bony scutes on its back, like an alligator, but had a long snout filled with teeth, like an ichthyosaur or a river dolphin.
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"Gavialis"/Ikanogavialis papuensis was similarly fully marine, having been found in association with sea turtles and sirenians. It represents the youngest fully marine crocodilian to date.
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Lianghusuchus is an extinct genus of crocodylid crocodilian. Fossils date back to the Eocene and have been found from Hunan, China.Lucas, S. G. (2001). Chinese Fossil Vertebrates.
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Archosaurs are a group of diapsid amniotes whose living representatives consist of birds and crocodilians. This group also includes all extinct dinosaurs, extinct crocodilian relatives, and pterosaurs.
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The smallest crocodilian is the Cuvier's dwarf caiman (Paleosuchus palpebrosus) from northern and central South America. It reaches up to in length.CROCODILIANS Natural History & Conservation. Paleosuchus palpebrosus.
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In 1990, Paul Sereno erected the clade Crurotarsi to supplant Pseudosuchia. However, Sereno defined Crurotarsi as a node-based clade, relying on the inclusion of groups such as Phytosauria, Aetosauria, and Crocodylomorpha. It is not equivalent to Pseudosuchia, which by definition must include all crocodilian-line archosaurs. For many years, Pseudosuchia and Crurotarsi have been considered partial synonyms because the latter clade encompasses all crocodilian-line archosaurs in most phylogenetic analyses.
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Life restoration of Baryphracta deponiae Baryphracta is an extinct genus of diplocynodontine crocodilian. It is closely related to the genera Diplocynodon and Tadzhikosuchus. Fossils have been found from the Messel Pit near Messel, Germany, which was deposited during the Middle Eocene epoch of the Paleogene period. It was not the only crocodilian found from the pit; others include the closely related Diplocynodon as well as crocodylids such as Asiatosuchus and Allognathosuchus.
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Since the specimens had some distortions, major issues were fix at the site before it was X-rayed. In 1931, a new primitive form of crocodilian was found in the Dinosaur Canyon Beds of northern Arizona, United States. The beds are at the top of the Upper Triassic Formation and below the Lower Jurassic sediments. The crocodilian found is about 1 meter long, with flattened head and large frontals.
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Akanthosuchus (meaning "spine crocodile," in reference to its armor) is an extinct genus of alligatoroid crocodilian, possibly an alligatorine. Its fossils are found in the Paleocene-age Nacimiento Formation of the San Juan Basin, New Mexico, USA. It is known from a partial skeleton and isolated bony armor. Its armor was distinctive, with spike-shaped and blade-shaped pieces, and it is the only known crocodilian with a combination of both.
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The gharial (Gavialis gangeticus), a crocodilian, was last spotted in 1927. The Irrawaddy dolphin has been known to reach the upper tributaries of the Ayeyarwady including the Shweli.
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A new crocodilian from the Cretaceous of southern Morocco. Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences. Série 2. Sciences de la terre et des planètes 319(2):1563–1568.
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It has been estimated that about 1,000 people are killed by crocodilians each year.CrocBITE, Worldwide Crocodilian Attack Database: About human-crocodile conflict. Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory, Australia.
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In Australian Aboriginal mythology, I'wai is the culture hero of the Koko Y'ao. I'wai was a crocodilian man who brought most of the Koko Y'ao religious rites and ceremonies.
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Duerosuchus is an extinct genus of crocodilian. Remains have been found from Corrales del Vino in Zamora, Spain, and are middle Eocene in age (about 40 million years old). Duerosuchus is known from a single skull that is incomplete but otherwise well preserved, as well as a lower jaw, some osteoderms, and possibly some vertebrae. Duerosuchus is a basal crocodilian thought to be closely related to brevirostrine, or short snouted crocodilians, such as alligatoroids.
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Ikanogavialis had a dorsoventrally deep snout and a distinctive notch between the dentary and maxillary alveoli. The external nares projected anterodorsally from the rostrum. This can be seen as a plesiomorphic characteristic in crocodilians, but given that the earliest gavialoids possessed dorsally projecting external nares, this feature can be seen as having been a reversal from the gavialoid apomorphy back to the crocodilian plesiomorphy rather than having been directly obtained from an early crocodilian ancestor.
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Diagram of crocodilian heart and circulation The crocodilian has perhaps the most complex vertebrate circulatory system. It has a four-chambered heart and two ventricles, an unusual trait among extant reptiles,Grigg and Gans, pp. 331–332. and both a left and right aorta which are connected by a hole called the Foramen of Panizza. Like birds and mammals, crocodilians have heart valves that direct blood flow in a single direction through the heart chambers.
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Natural Resources Canada Inevitably, it was not only dinosaurs that Lambe discovered. The crocodilian Leidysuchus canadensis was described in 1907. This is the most commonly found crocodilian species found in the Late Cretaceous deposits of Alberta. He also studied Devonian fishes from New Brunswick and Paleozoic corals, collected Tertiary insects and plants in British Columbia but it is for his work on vertebrates from western Canada, especially dinosaurs, that he is most famous.
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Later research showed that Navajosuchus novomexicanus was the same as the earlier-named Allognathosuchus mooki. However, A. mooki may or may not belong to the genus Allognathosuchus, and if it does not, the name of the crocodilian would become Navajosuchus mooki. Under whichever name is used, this animal would have been a generalized predator of the Nacimiento floodplains. It was the most common Nacimiento Formation crocodilian, found in both the Puercan and Torrejonian faunal assemblages.
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Lang, J. W. (1987). "Crocodilian behaviour: implications for management", pp. 273–294 in Wildlife management: crocodiles and alligators. However, even females will not reach proper sexual maturity for another 10 years.
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Euthecodon was originally considered a tomistomine crocodilian. It has even been suggested to be a direct offshoot of Eogavialis.Tchernov, E. (1976). Crocodylidae from the Pliocene/Pleistocene formations of the Rudolf Basin.
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The name Pseudosuchia was coined by Karl Alfred von Zittel in 1887–1890 to include three taxa (two aetosaurs and Dyoplax) that were superficially crocodilian- like, but were not actually crocodilian. Hence the name "false crocodiles". In mid-20th century textbooks, like Alfred Sherwood Romer's Vertebrate Paleontology and Edwin H. Colbert's Evolution of the Vertebrates, Pseudosuchia constitutes one of the suborders of the now-abandoned order Thecodontia. Zittel's aetosaurs were placed in their own suborder, Aetosauria.
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Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory, Australia. and the reason for the last is unclear.CrocBITE, Worldwide Crocodilian Attack Database: Siamese crocodile, 15 June 1944. Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory, Australia. A fifth attack, in 1928, was fatal, but the victim was a child (i.e., closer to typical prey size than an adult) and the identity of the crocodile species is not entirely certain.CrocBITE, Worldwide Crocodilian Attack Database: Siamese crocodile, 1 January 1928. Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory, Australia.
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The locality of Cerro das Mós, from where a large crocodilian (Tomistoma schlegelii) tooth was collected long ago,M.T. Antunes et al. (1981), p.9-38 has also produced some Odontoceti teeth.
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Sideleau, B., & Britton, A. R. C. (2012). "A preliminary analysis of worldwide crocodilian attacks", pp. 111–114 in Crocodiles. Proceedings of the 21st Working Meeting of the Crocodile Specialist Group, Manila, Philippines. IUCN.
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Culebrasuchus is an extinct genus of caiman (a type of crocodilian) known from the Early to Middle Miocene (Hemingfordian) of the Panama Canal Zone of Panama. It contains a single species, Culebrasuchus mesoamericanus.
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Orthosuchus is closely related to Protosuchus, Notochampsa, Erythochampsa, and probably other crocodilian families. Although Orthosuchus could be grouped into Notochampsa, more people want to keep the family Protosuchidae because it is widely accepted.
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Two species are recognized, Paralligator gradilifrons and P. major.Konzhukova ED (1954) [New fossil crocodilian from Mongolia]. Trudy Paleontologicheskogo Instituta ANSSSR 48: 171–194.Efimov MB (1981) New paralligatorids from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia.
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F. Michael O'Neill et al. described the genus in 1981. The type species is A. langstoni, honoring paleontologist Wann Langston, Jr., known for his work on fossil crocodilians. Akanthosuchus was a moderately sized crocodilian.
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Vladimir Dinets is a zoologist and author, known for his studies of Crocodilian behavior and of numerous rare animals in remote parts of the world, as well as for popular writings in Russian and English.
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The American alligator is a relatively large species of crocodilian. On average, it is the second-largest species in the family Alligatoridae, behind only the black caiman.Thorbjarnarson, J. B. (2010). Black caiman Melanosuchus niger. Crocodiles.
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Most tales are poorly documented and unconfirmed but, given this species' formidable size, predation on humans can be fatal.Sideleau B, Britton ARC (2012). "A preliminary analysis of worldwide crocodilian attacks". pp. 111–114. In: Crocodiles.
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Out of the eight longest crocodilian skulls from existing species that could be found in museums around the world, six of these belonged to false gharials. The longest crocodilian skull belonging to an extant species was of this species and measured in length, with a mandibular length of . Most of the owners of these enormous skulls surprisingly had no confirmed (or even anecdotal) total measurements, but based on the known skull-to-total length ratio for the species, they would measure approximately in length.
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Eothoracosaurus is an extinct genus of eusuchian crocodylomorph which existed during the Late Cretaceous and early Paleocene. The animal is usually regarded as a gavialoid crocodilian, though the phylogenetic study published by Lee & Yates (2018) indicated that it was more likely to be a non-crocodilian eusuchian. If the animal was a gavialoid, it was one of the earliest and most basal gavialoids known. Fossils are present from the Ripley Formation in Mississippi and date back to the early Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous.
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Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory, Australia.CrocBITE, Worldwide Crocodilian Attack Database: Orinoco crocodile, 1 June 1933. Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory, Australia. Cuban crocodile (generally considered aggressive, but only one confirmed fatality),CrocBITE, Worldwide Crocodilian Attack Database: Cuban crocodile, 2 June 1995. Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory, Australia. black caiman (fatal attacks confirmed in Brazil, but possibly underreported because of its remote range), American alligator (an estimated 6% of attacks are fatal), and false gharial (only a few confirmed fatalities, all involving very large false gharials).
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Crocodilian conservationist John Thorbjarnarson observed a female who had to build her nest of pine needles rather than the usual plants; the eggs died due to the pine needles not being able to warm them properly.
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Wannchampsus ("Wann Langston, Jr.'s crocodile") is an extinct genus of paralligatorid neosuchian, close to but not a true crocodilian. It is known from fossils discovered in Lower Cretaceous rocks in north-central Texas, United States.
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467 pp. University of Texas, AustinBrochu, C. A. (2001). Congruence between physiology, phylogenetics, and the fossil record on crocodylian historical biogeography. In: G. Grigg, F. Seebacher, and C.E. Franklin (eds.), Crocodilian Biology and Evolution, 9–28.
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Breeding occurs from May to August and 14–40 eggs are laid in July and August. This crocodilian has a large range and population, native to much of Latin American and introduced to the United States.
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A backward- projecting calcaneal tuberosity is present in most early crocodilian relatives, including those that are thought have sprawling gaits, yet modern crocodilians have more laterally projected tuberosities impeding a parasagittal orientation of the hind foot.
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Medioolithus is an oogenus of fossil egg laid by a paleognath.Kohring, R., & Hirsch, K. F. (1996). "Crocodilian and avian eggshells from the Middle Eocene of the Geiseltal, Eastern Germany." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 16(1), 67-80.
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A common misconception is that crocodilians are an easy source of revenue and not difficult to care for in captivity; however, few crocodilian businesses are successful in the developing world. To offset overhead costs and have a regular source of income, crocodilian facilities can add tourism; in this way alligator farming can assist native species and provide people with work. Alligator farming has minimal adverse effects on the environment,Lane, Thomas J. and Ruppert, Kathleen C., 1987. and has at least two positive direct effects on alligator conservation.
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Studies on Cenozoic Crocodilians and fishes: 6. Helmstedtisuchus freyi Schleich & Windolf, 1994 from the Upper Eocene of Helmstedt (Germany) is not a crocodilian, but a scombrid teleost. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie. Abhandlungen 2000(11):651-668.
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Astorgosuchus is an extinct genus of crocodilian, closely related to true crocodiles, that lived in Pakistan during the late Oligocene period. It contains a single species, A. bugtiensis, which was originally named as a species of Crocodylus in 1908.
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The false gharial is a large crocodilian. Males can reportedly grow up to in length. Three mature males kept in captivity measured and weighed , while a female measured and weighed . Females have been recorded at lengths of up to .
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An alligator is a crocodilian in the genus Alligator of the family Alligatoridae. The two extant species are the American alligator (A. mississippiensis) and the Chinese alligator (A. sinensis). Additionally, several extinct species of alligator are known from fossil remains.
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Listrognathosuchus is an extinct genus of alligatoroid crocodilian. Fossils date back to the middle Paleocene epoch. In 1997, the generic name replaced that of Leidyosuchus for the species L. multidentatus (now the type species of Listrognathosuchus).Brochu, C. A. (1997).
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Cuba is home to three crocodilian species: the Cuban crocodile which are found in the Zapata swamp region and the isle of youth, whereas the spectacled caiman is a non-native to the island that has been introduced by pet-traders.
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Their male Nile crocodile Sobek, at more than long and in weight, is the largest crocodilian in Europe,Barfoed, C.K. (14 May 2015). Dansker redder kæmpe- krokodille fra døden: Nu skal den bo på Falster. TV2 News. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
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A new metriorhynchid crocodilian (Mesoeucrocodylia: Thalattosuchia) from the Kimmeridgian (Upper Jurassic) of Wiltshire, UK. Palaeontology 51 (6): 1307-1333. Some of the longirostrine forms, however, do appear to form a natural group.Mueller-Töwe IJ. 2005. Phylogenetic relationships of the Thalattosuchia.
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Gryposuchus is an extinct genus of gavialoid crocodilian. It is the type genus of the subfamily Gryposuchinae. Fossils have been found from Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil and the Peruvian Amazon. The genus existed during the Miocene epoch (Colhuehuapian to Huayquerian).
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In 1808, Cuvier scientifically described the theropod vertebrae as the first dinosaur remains ever. However, he considered them to be crocodilian and associated them with fossils of the Teleosauridae and the Metriorhynchidae. In 1822, Cuvier by the work of Henry De La Bèche became aware that these finds were very disparate, stemming from different periods. He abstained from naming them but in 1824 concluded that there were two main types. In 1825 Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire accordingly named two crocodilian skulls as the genus Steneosaurus, the one, specimen MNHN 8900, becoming Steneosaurus rostromajor, the other, MNHN 8902, S. rostrominor.
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Protosuchus is an extinct genus of carnivorous crocodylomorph from the Early Jurassic. The name Protosuchus means "first crocodile", and is among the earliest animals that resemble crocodilians. Protosuchus was about in length and about in weight. life restoration of Protosuchus The skull of Protosuchus richardsoni (AMNH 3024) The pelvis and hindlimbs of Protosuchus richardsoni (AMNH 3024) Protosuchus richardsoni fossil AMNH 3024 As an early crocodilian relative, its skull featured more crocodilian characteristics than its earlier ancestors; it had short jaws that broadened out at the base of the skull, providing a large surface to which its jaw muscles could attach.
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The brain of Allosaurus, as interpreted from spiral CT scanning of an endocast, was more consistent with crocodilian brains than those of the other living archosaurs, birds. The structure of the vestibular apparatus indicates that the skull was held nearly horizontal, as opposed to strongly tipped up or down. The structure of the inner ear was like that of a crocodilian, and so Allosaurus probably could have heard lower frequencies best, and would have had trouble with subtle sounds. The olfactory bulbs were large and seem to have been well suited for detecting odors, although the area for evaluating smells was relatively small.
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Colossoemys is the nomen dubium of an extinct genus of alligatoroid crocodilian. Based on fossils found in the Solimões Formation, the finds were assigned to Emys macrococcygeanus, a turtle that would have inhabited the Amazon Basin South America during the Pleistocene epoch.Hoorn & Wesselingh, 2011, Chapter Turtles The genus was originally named on the basis of two large procoelous vertebrae, a pubis, and a plastral fragment (likely to be from a turtle rather than a crocodilian).Williams, E. E. (1952) A new fossil tortoise from Mona Island, West Indies, and a tentative arrangement of the tortoises of the world.
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Crocodile longevity is not well established, but larger species like the Nile crocodile live longer, and may have a potential average life span of 70 to 100 years, though no crocodilian species commonly exceeds a lifespan of 50 to 60 years in captivity.
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Grimshaw, J. & Bayton, R. (2009). New Trees - Recent Introductions to Cultivation. RBG Kew, London. The province is also home to the Chinese alligator (Alligator sinensis, ), also known as the Yangtze alligator, China alligator, or historically the muddy dragon, a critically endangered crocodilian.
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An extinct gharial species, "Gavialis" papuensis (occasionally informally referred to as "Murua Gharial"), occurred in Woodlark Island during the Pleistocene or Holocene period.Molnar, R. E. 1982. A longirostrine crocodilian from Murua (Woodlark), Solomon Sea. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 20, 675-685.
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Ferganosuchus is an extinct genus of gavialid crocodilian. The genus is thought to be a tomistomine, although it has been suggested that Ferganosuchus may be a more basal gavialoid.Brochu, C. A. (2001). Crocodylian Snouts in Space and Time: Phylogenetic Approaches Toward Adaptive Radiation.
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The mugger crocodile is considered a medium-sized crocodilian, but has the broadest snout among living crocodilians. It has a powerful tail and webbed feet. Its visual, hearing and smelling senses are acute. Adult female muggers are on average, and male muggers .
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Today, those numbers have greatly changed. > By 1996 one third of the crocodilian species were abundant enough to support > regulated annual harvests, another third were no longer in danger of > extinction, but the final one third of the species still remain endangered.
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It hunts in the typical way for most crocodilian, ambushing terrestrial prey when it comes to edge of the water or is sitting in shallows and dragging it down to be drowned or attempting to ambush aquatic prey from near the surface of the water.
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Sajkanosuchus is an extinct genus of alligatorid crocodilian. It is known from the middle Eocene of eastern Kazakhstan. Fossils have been found from the Zaysan Basin in clays that are referred to as the Obayla suite. The type species is S. ckhikvadzoi, named in 1984.
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Cassell Illustrated, 978-0713723823.Storrs G. W. (2003). "Late Miocene-early Pliocene crocodilian fauna of Lothagam, Southwest Turkana basin, Kenya", in Leakey M. G. & Harris J. M. (eds), Lothagam: the Dawn of Humanity in Eastern Africa. Columbia University Press, New York. pp. 137–159.
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787, 797. Monument 66, a local style sculpture in the form of the head of a crocodilianOrrego Corzo and Schieber de Lavarreda 2001, pp. 792, 806. Monument 66 is a local style sculpture of a crocodilian head that may date to the Middle Preclassic.
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The health resort opened in 1977.Hamat Gader in the 20th Century Today, Hamat Gader also includes a crocodilian farm with crocodiles, alligators and even caimans and gavials. It has about 200 crocodilians and it is the largest crocodile farm in the Middle East.
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Ross, Charles A. "Crocodile Status in Ligawasan Marsh". Philippine Crocodile. Retrieved on 2012-07-12. The Philippine crocodile, the species endemic only to the country, became data deficient to critically endangered in 2008 from exploitation and unsustainable fishing methods,"Crocodilian Species - Philippine Crocodile (Crocdylus mindorensis)".
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Skeleton of the contemporary terrestrial crocodilian Boverisuchus.The Messel Pit is famous for its well-preserved fossils, which include semi-aquatic crocodylians such as Asiatosuchus and Diplocynodon. Unlike these crocodylians, Bergisuchus was a small terrestrial hypercarnivore. Rossmann and colleagues speculated extensively about the palaeoecology of Bergisuchus.
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Due to the extreme sexual dimorphism of the species as contrasted with the more modest size dimorphism of other species, the average length of the species is only slightly more than some other extant crocodilians at .Brazaitis, P. (1987). Identification of crocodilian skins. Pty Lim.
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Its more advanced transverse process indicates that it is a new crocodilian species. In 1933 Barnum Brown named it Archaeosuchus, and then changed it to Protosuchus in 1934 and form the family of Protosuchidae.Colbert, Edwin Harris 1905-, Charles Craig 1887-1966. Mook, and Barnum. Brown.
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The crocodilian penis is permanently erect and relies on cloacal muscles for eversion and elastic ligaments and a tendon for recoil. The gonads are located near the kidneys.Huchzermeyer, p. 19. The eyes, ears and nostrils of crocodilians are at the top of the head.
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Crocodilian eggs are protected by hard shells made of calcium carbonate. The incubation period is two to three months. The temperature at which the eggs incubate determines the sex of the hatchlings. Constant nest temperatures above produce more males, while those below produce more females.
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Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27 (3): 170A.Wilkinson LE, Young MT, Benton MJ. 2008. A new metriorhynchid crocodilian (Mesoeucrocodylia: Thalattosuchia) from the Kimmeridgian (Upper Jurassic) of Wiltshire, UK. Palaeontology 51 (6): 1307-1333. until a 2012 study moved D. manselii to the formerly invalid genus Plesiosuchus.
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CrocBITE, Worldwide Crocodilian Attack Database: Orinoco crocodile, 15 June 2009. Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory, Australia. A second survivor was reported in 2011 to live in La Palmita at the Cojedes River, but any details of this attack (including when exactly it happened) are lacking.
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These suggest multiple biomechanical differences from modern species.Salisbury, S. W. & Frey, E. 2000. A biomechanical transformation model for the evolution of semi- spheroidal articulations between adjoining vertebral bodies in crocodilians. In Grigg, G. C., Seebacher, F. & Franklin, C. E. (eds) Crocodilian Biology and Evolution.
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Eaglebine play of the southwestern East Texas basin: Stratigraphic and depositional framework of the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian- Turonian) Woodbine and Eagle Ford Groups: AAPG Bulletin, v. 98, p. 2551-2580. Dinosaur and crocodilian remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.
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Crocodile warning sign, Trinity Beach, Queensland, Australia Crocodile warning sign, Urban Park, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso Crocodile attacks on humans are common in places where large crocodilians are native and human populations live. Less than half of the 25 crocodilian species have been involved in fatal attacks on humans, and only crocodilians about in length or more represent a serious danger to humans, as smaller crocodilians are considered incapable of killing adults. However, even the smallest species can inflict painful bites requiring stitches. In addition, a small child may be of a similar size to the prey of some of the crocodilian species incapable of preying on adult humans.
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The Winton Formation had a faunal assemblage including bivalves, gastropods, insects, the lungfish Metaceratodus, turtles, the crocodilian Isisfordia, pterosaurs, and several types of dinosaurs, such as the sauropods Diamantinasaurus and Wintonotitan, and unnamed ankylosaurians and hypsilophodonts. Plants known from the formation include ferns, ginkgoes, gymnosperms, and angiosperms.
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A giant crocodilian like animal that can feed itself by eating bananas from the banana trees on its back. It is one of the biggest fears of Keroro, as he can't resist stepping on the peel after a bananawani has eaten a banana. Wani translates to crocodile.
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Comptes Rendus Palevol 15 : 595–605 (in French with an abridged English version).Brignon, A. (2016) Le premier "chasseur de dinosaures" en France : l'abbé Charles Bacheley (1716-1795). Fossiles: Revue française de Paléontologie 27 : 36-42. These fossil materials contained theropod vertebrae and marine crocodilian remains.
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Récords y curiosidades de los dinosaurios Terópodos y otros dinosauromorfos, Larousse. Barcelona, Spain p. 259 The latest estimates suggest a weight of . The skull of Spinosaurus was long, low and narrow, similar to that of a modern crocodilian, and bore straight conical teeth with no serrations.
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Buffetaut E. 1982. Aggiosaurus nicaeensis Ambayrac, 1913, from the Upper Jurassic of south-eastern France: A marine crocodilian, not a dinosaur. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Monatshefte (8): 469-475. As the type specimen is poorly preserved it is sometimes considered to be a nomen dubium.
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Farfan, Jose A. et al 2006. The skin, most notably the underside, of alligators and crocodiles is of commercial value, so diseases of the skin need to be treated properly and effectively.Dzoma, B. M., Sejoe, S., Segwagwe, B. V., E. June 2008. Crocodilian diseases vary between species.
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Gavialinum rhodoni has a long, narrow snout, much like the current gavialids, from which the Gavialinum genus gets its name. The two are not related, as Gavialinum rhodoni occurred much earlier than any crocodilian. Gavialinum had 33 teeth on each jaw, for a total of 66.
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Eridanosaurus is an extinct genus originally described as a crocodilian, but later shown to be a rhinocerosDelfino, M. 2001. The fossil record of the Italian Crocodylomorpha. 6th European Workshop on Vertebrate Palaeontology, Florence-Montevarchi, Italy, September 19–22, 2001:28. Abstract. [Italian] (specifically, based on a rhinoceros vertebra).
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Milàn, J., & Hedegaard, R. (2010). Interspecific variation in tracks and trackways from extant crocodylians. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin, 51, 15-29. The false gharial apparently has the largest skull of any extant crocodilian, undoubtedly aided by the great length of the slender snout.
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Siquisiquesuchus (meaning "Siquisique crocodile" after the town in Lara, Venezuela, near where the first described specimens were found) is an extinct genus of gavialoid crocodilian. It is known from cranial remains and a few postcranial bones found in Miocene-age rocks of the Castillo Formation in northwestern Venezuela.
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A small number of better documented fatal attacks were reported in the 1900s–1930s when the species was still relatively common.CrocBITE, Worldwide Crocodilian Attack Database: Orinoco crocodile. Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory, Australia. The only well-documented recent attack, on a fisherman in 2009, was serious but not fatal.
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Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni likely preyed on human ancestors like Paranthropus and early members of the genus Homo, both of which are known from the Turkana Basin. Direct evidence of crocodilian predation is known from bite marks on hominin bones from the Olduvai Gorge, and these marks were likely made by the closely related crocodile C. anthropophagus (anthropophagus means "human eater" in Greek). No hominin bones from the Turkana Basin bear crocodilian bite marks, so there is no direct evidence that C. thorbjarnarsoni preyed on hominins. However, modern Nile crocodiles are known to consume adult humans, and since C. thorbjarnarsoni was larger than any Nile crocodile, it easily could have eaten smaller-bodied human ancestors.
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In captivity, it is observed that T. grayi likes to stack itself in piles, like turtles basking in the sun, and would rather stay on dry land than in water. It is becoming quite popular as an exotic pet due to its crocodilian appearance and cheap price in the Philippines.
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This crocodilian is the only animal that typically takes down an adult buffalo alone, whereas a pride attack is the preferred method of lions when taking down such large prey.Graham, A. D. (1968). The Lake Rudolf Crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus Laurenti) Population. Masters of Science Thesis, The University of East Africa.
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They can also spin and twist by moving their lungs laterally. Swimming and diving crocodilians appear to rely on lung volume more for buoyancy than oxygen storage. Just before diving, the animal exhales to reduce its lung volume and achieve negative buoyancy. When submerging, the nostrils of a crocodilian shut tight.
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Morelet's crocodile (Crocodylus moreletii), also known as the Mexican crocodile, is a modest-sized crocodilian found only in fresh waters of the Atlantic regions of Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. It usually grows to about in length. It is a Least Concern species. The species has a fossil record in Guatemala.
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Buffetaut Buffetaut E. 1982. Aggiosaurus nicaeensis Ambayrac, 1913, from the Upper Jurassic of south-eastern France: A marine crocodilian, not a dinosaur. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Monatshefte (8): 469-475. in 1982 demonstrated that it was in fact a metriorhynchid, closely related to, if not a member of Dakosaurus.
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Baru is an extinct genus of Australian mekosuchine crocodilian. It was semi- aquatic, around 4 m (13 ft) in length. Being semi-aquatic its habitat was around fresh pools of water in wet forests, ambushing their prey, much like modern species. The word Baru is Aboriginal and means "crocodile's ancestor".
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A saltwater crocodile in captivity Size greatly varies among species, from the dwarf crocodile to the saltwater crocodile. Species of the dwarf crocodile Osteolaemus grow to an adult size of just ,. Crocodilian Species List. Retrieved on 2012-04-14 whereas the saltwater crocodile can grow to sizes over and weigh .
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The freshwater crocodile is a relatively small crocodilian. Males can grow to long, while females reach a maximum size of . Males commonly weigh around , with large specimens up to or more, against the female weight of . In areas such as Lake Argyle and Katherine Gorge there exist a handful of confirmed individuals.
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Both features are useful adaptations for catching and feeding on fish. The expanded, interlocking front jaws and piercing teeth of spinosaurs worked as an efficient fish trap, a trait also exhibited by the Indian gharial—the most piscivorous extant crocodilian. Kellner compared the general appearance of spinosaurid skulls to those of alligators.
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The Philippine crocodile is a crocodilian endemic to the Philippines. It is a relatively small, freshwater crocodile. It has a relatively broad snout and thick bony plates on its back (heavy dorsal armor). This is a fairly small species, reaching breeding maturity at and in both sexes and a maximum size around .
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The saltwater crocodile is the largest living reptile and crocodilian known to science. Males grow to a length of up to , rarely exceeding or a weight of . Females are much smaller and rarely surpass . It is also known as the estuarine crocodile, Indo-Pacific crocodile, marine crocodile, sea crocodile or informally as saltie.
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The teeth of reptiles are replaced constantly throughout their lives. Crocodilian juveniles replace teeth with larger ones at a rate as high as one new tooth per socket every month. Once mature, tooth replacement rates can slow to two years and even longer. Overall, crocodilians may use 3,000 teeth from birth to death.
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Crocodilian teeth are adapted for seizing and holding prey, and food is swallowed unchewed. The digestive tract is relatively short, as meat is a fairly simple substance to digest. The stomach is divided into two parts: a muscular gizzard that grinds food, and a digestive chamber where enzymes work on it.Mazzotti, p. 54.
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Life restoration of a pair of M. superciliosus Averaging in length, Metriorhynchus was of a similar size to modern crocodiles. However, it had a streamlined body and a finned tail, making it a more efficient swimmer than modern crocodilian species.Massare JA. 1988. Swimming capabilities of Mesozoic marine reptiles; implications for method of predation.
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Crocodile Captive breeding units of all the three crocodilian species have been established at Nandankanan Zoo.Crocodile Conservation. wildlifeorissa.in In 1980, the gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) was bred in captivity for the first time at the Nandankanan Biological Park in Odisha. This successful effort involved the collaboration and coordination between international and national zoological parks.
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Hypselosaurus was a proposed to be in length, when it was considered a crocodilian, which would have made it one of the largest of the group. However, a modern estimate as a titanosaur has put Hypselosaurus at around , with a very rough weight estimate of . One of the smaller titanosaurs, Neuquensaurus, measures only long.
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Found in association with dugongs and sea turtles, "Ikanogavialis papuensis" was a marine animal like its ancestors, a 2-3 meter long coastal piscivore so far known only from Murua. Like other Pleistocene gharials, the species was presumably was hunted to extinction by humanity.Molnar, R. E. 1982. A longirostrine crocodilian from Murua (Woodlark), Solomon Sea.
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Oxysdonsaurus is an extinct genus of crocodylid crocodilian. Fossils have been found from the Paraná Basin in Argentina that date back to the Oligocene. According to Edward Drinker Cope, the generic name is a misspelling of the intended name Oxyodontosaurus. The genus is known only from a single tooth and is thus considered indeterminate.
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This species is the only extant crocodilian to regularly reach or exceed . A large male from Philippines, named Lolong, was the largest saltwater crocodile ever caught and placed in captivity. He was long and weighed . Thought to have eaten two villagers, Lolong was captured in September 2011, and died in captivity in February 2013.
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Additional dinosaurs are represented by the fast-running, long-snouted tyrannosaurid Qianzhousaurus, the sauropod Gannansaurus, and the very sparse remains of hadrosaurid dinosaurs such as Microhadrosaurus (now a nomen dubium). Other reptiles that composed the fauna were the terrestrial or semiaquatic nanhsiungchelyid turtles Nanhsiungchelys and Jiangxichelys, squamates Chianghsia and Tianyusaurus, and the crocodilian Jiangxisuchus.
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It is typically a bright green with slight dark green banding. The Paraguayan caiman lizards (Dracaena paraguayensis) are typically much more drab, with gray bodies and heads. There are tough raised scutes along the dorsal portion of the back. These give the caiman lizard a crocodilian appearance, and help to provide some protection against predators.
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Some place them near or within dissorophoids, a group of terrestrial insectivorous temnospondyls. However, most other authors consider lapilopsids to be unusual stereospondyls. Stereospondyls are typically large and crocodilian-like Mesozoic temnospondyls with flattened skulls and semiaquatic habits, but lapillopsids differ from this body plan and more closely resemble the dissorophoids, at least superficially.
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The fiscal incentive to keep a healthy environment for breeding alligators means that the environment and its wildlife are seen as an economic resource. This can augment the government's willingness to take care of crocodilian populations. Animals other than crocodilians may benefit from a similar application of sustainable and ethical farming.Moyle, Brendan (July 2013). .
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Although the cost of operating an open cycle operation is comparable to closed cycle, the goal of an open cycle operation is the overall health of the species, rather than economic profit. Captive breeding and ranching operations provide more incentive to protect natural populations and are important contributors to the success of crocodilian populations.
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Gavialis bengawanicus is an extinct species of crocodilian that is related to the modern Indian gharial. Fossils have been found in Thailand and Indonesia. The type locality is at Trinil. The presence of this species in Thailand may provide an explanation for the distribution of fossil gharials that appears disjunct, covering Pakistan and Java but not the connecting areas.
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"A ctenochasmatid pterosaur from the Stonesfield Slate (Bathonian, Middle Jurassic) of Oxfordshire, England." Geological Magazine, (advance online publication) However, this specimen probably represents a teleosaurid stem-crocodilian instead of a pterosaur. Below is a cladogram showing the results of a phylogenetic analysis presented by Longrich, Martill, and Andres, 2018.Longrich, N.R., Martill, D.M., and Andres, B. (2018).
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Like many other early archosaurs and crocodilian relatives, it also references Soûkhos, the Greek name for the Egyptian crocodile god Sobek. The species name "admixtus" refers to the mixture of different species preserved along with the holotype. The holotype is now housed at the Paleontology Museum at the National University of La Rioja (PULR) with catalogue number PULR 01.
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Crocodilian Biology Database – FAQ – Which is the largest species of crocodile? Flmnh.ufl.edu Also, a living specimen estimated at and has been accepted by the Guinness Book of World Records.Boloji.com – A Study in Diversity . News.boloji.com However, due to the difficulty of trapping and measuring a very large living crocodile, the accuracy of these dimensions has yet to be verified.
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Dollosuchoides is an extinct genus of crocodilian. It is a basal tomistomine closely related to the genus Tomistoma, of which the only extant species of tomistomine, the False gharial, is a member of. Fossils have been found from Belgium and date back to the middle Eocene. The holotype is currently housed in the Gand Museum in Belgium.
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Orthosuchus has a body proportion similar to lizards, with a body length about 0.6 meters, and a flattened skull, a typical skull of crocodilian.Diane, Nash S. "The Morphology and Relationships of a Crocodilian, Orthosuchus Stormbergi, from the Upper Triassic of Lesotho." Annals of the South African Museum 67 (1975): 227-329. Biodiversity Heritage Library. Web. 5 Mar. 2017.
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In contrast to today's dry, desert environment, the Big Bend paleoenvironment was a wet, coastal lowland on the edge of the Western Interior Seaway during the Campanian. Texacephale shared its environment with Agujaceratops mariscalensis, a ceratopsid. Tyrannosaurids and the giant crocodilian Deinosuchus rugosus were also present in the Aguja environment, and were likely to have been predators.
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Based on the presence of viral genomes in bird DNA it appears that the hepadnaviruses evolved >. Birds may be the original hosts of the Hepadnaviridae with mammals becoming infected after a bird (see host switch). Endogenous hepatitis B virus genomes have been described in crocodilian, snake and turtle genomes. This suggests that these viruses have infected vertebrates for over .
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The basal ornithischian dinosaurs, Heterodontosaurus tucki, Lesothosaurus diagnosticus, Abrictosaurus consors, and Lycorhinus angustidens have also been recovered from the UEF. In addition this formation has yielded various crocodylomorph species, namely Litargosuchus leptorhynchus, Sphenosuchus acutus, Orthosuchus stormbergi,Nash, D.S., 1975. The morphology and relationships of a crocodilian, Orthosuchus stormbergi, from the Upper Triassic of Lesotho. South African Museum.
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Savannasaurus lived alongside a diverse vertebrate fauna in the upper Winton Formation, that included its close relative Diamantinasaurus, other sauropods Wintonotitan and Austrosaurus, the megaraptoran theropod Australovenator, ankylosaurians, and hypsilophodonts, along with the lungfish Metaceratodus, turtles, the crocodilian Isisfordia, and pterosaurs. The environment it lived in would have been populated by plants such as ferns, ginkgoes, gymnosperms, and angiosperms.
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The Eusuchia ("true crocodiles") are a clade of crocodylomorphs that first appeared in the Early Cretaceous with Hylaeochampsa. Along with Dyrosauridae and Sebecosuchia, they were the only crocodyliformes who survived the K-T extinction. Since the other two clades died out 35 and 11 million years ago, all living crocodilian species are eusuchians, as are many extinct forms.
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The U.S. state of Alabama is home to 93 indigenous reptile species, not including subspecies. Indigenous species include one species of crocodilian, 12 lizard species, 49 snake species, and 31 turtle species. Three native species have possibly been extirpated from the state. These include the eastern indigo snake, southern hognose snake and the mimic glass lizard.
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Small animals can be killed by whiplash as the predator shakes its head. Caimans use their tails and bodies to herd fish into shallow water. They may also dig for bottom-dwelling invertebrates, and the smooth-fronted caiman will even hunt on land. Some crocodilian species have been observed to use sticks and branches to lure nest-building birds.
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During the Benin Empire, crocodiles were considered the "policemen of the waters" and symbolised the power of the king or oba to punish wrongdoers. The Leviathan described in the Book of Job may have been based on a crocodile.Wylie, p. 28. In Mesoamerica, the Aztecs had a crocodilian god of fertility named Cipactli who protected crops.
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Restoration of C. suevicus All currently known species would have been three metres or less in length. When compared to living crocodilians, Cricosaurus can be considered moderate to small-sized. Its body was streamlined for greater hydrodynamic efficiency, which along with its finned tail made it a more efficient swimmer than modern crocodilian species.Massare JA. 1988.
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Several homologies were discussed. Main cavities in the crocodilian skull are also present in Sphenosuchus, sometimes in a less clearly defined state. Certain pneumatic spaces in the Sphenosuchus skulls are not found in modern crocodiles but are of closer resemblance to cavities in the bird skull. The otic capsule of Sphenosuchus closely resembles those of birds and crocodiles.
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Brandon was instrumental in designing the database and work on the IT infrastructure. The program received funds from Economic and Social Research Council, United Kingdom to the tune of and unspecified resourced plus amount from Big Gecko Crocodilian Research, Crocodillian.com and Charles Darwin University. The research already has yielded pertinent observations that provide inside into crocodile attacks.
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The sacrum (the vertebra supporting the hips) of USNM 16592 was only long. Gilmore regarded the specimen as an adult because the vertebrae lacked sutures for their neural arches, a sign of maturity. This assessment was supported by O'Neill and colleagues, comparing Pinacosuchus to their new spiked crocodilian Akanthosuchus. The armor of Pinacosuchus was found disarticulated.
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With the cladistic revolution of the 1980s and 90s, in which cladistics became the most widely used method of classifying organisms, thecodonts were no longer considered a valid grouping. Because they are considered a "basal stock", thecodonts are paraphyletic, meaning that they form a group that does not include all descendants of its last common ancestor: in this case, the more derived crocodilians and birds are excluded from "Thecodontia" as it was formerly understood. The description of the basal ornithodires Lagerpeton and Lagosuchus in the 1970s provided evidence that linked thecodonts with dinosaurs, and contributed to the disuse of the term "Thecodontia", which many cladists consider an artificial grouping. With the identification of "crocodilian normal" and "crocodilian reversed" ankles by Sankar Chatterjee in 1978, a basal split in Archosauria was identified.
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Hatchlings quickly lose a hardened piece of skin on the top of their mouths called the egg tooth, which they use to break through their eggshells at hatching. Among crocodilians, the Nile crocodile possesses a relatively long snout, which is about 1.6 to 2.0 times as long as broad at the level of the front corners of the eyes. As is the saltwater crocodile, the Nile crocodile is considered a species with medium-width snout relative to other extant crocodilian species. In a search for the largest crocodilian skulls in museums, the largest verifiable Nile crocodile skulls found were several housed in Arba Minch, Ethiopia, sourced from nearby Lake Chamo, which apparently included several specimens with a skull length more than , with the largest one being in length with a mandibular length of .
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The name Pseudosuchia was originally given to a group of superficially crocodile- like prehistoric reptiles from the Triassic period, but fell out of use in the late 20th century, especially after the name Crurotarsi was established in 1990 to label the clade (evolutionary grouping) of archosaurs encompassing most reptiles previously identified as pseudosuchians. By this time, Pseudosuchia had also been defined as a clade, but it was not widely embraced until 2011. In 2011 paleontologist Sterling Nesbitt proposed that Crurotarsi, as it was then defined, must include not only crocodilian-line archosaurs, but all other archosaurs including birds, non-avian dinosaurs, and pterosaurs. The clade Pseudosuchia as originally defined could still be used to identify crocodilian-line archosaurs, and since many recent studies support Nesbitt's findings, Pseudosuchia is now commonly used.
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The year 2010 in Archosaur paleontology was eventful. Archosaurs include the only living dinosaur group — birds — and the reptile crocodilians, plus all extinct dinosaurs, extinct crocodilian relatives, and pterosaurs. Archosaur palaeontology is the scientific study of those animals, especially as they existed before the Holocene Epoch began about 11,700 years ago. The year 2010 in paleontology included various significant developments regarding archosaurs.
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The year 2009 in Archosaur paleontology was eventful. Archosaurs include the only living dinosaur group — birds — and the reptile crocodilians, plus all extinct dinosaurs, extinct crocodilian relatives, and pterosaurs. Archosaur paleontology is the scientific study of those animals, especially as they existed before the Holocene Epoch began about 11,700 years ago. The year 2009 in paleontology included various significant developments regarding archosaurs.
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The year 2011 in Archosaur paleontology was eventful. Archosaurs include the only living dinosaur group — birds — and the reptile crocodilians, plus all extinct dinosaurs, extinct crocodilian relatives, and pterosaurs. Archosaur palaeontology is the scientific study of those animals, especially as they existed before the Holocene Epoch began about 11,700 years ago. The year 2011 in paleontology included various significant developments regarding archosaurs.
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The year 2017 in archosaur paleontology was eventful. Archosaurs include the only living dinosaur group — birds — and the reptile crocodilians, plus all extinct dinosaurs, extinct crocodilian relatives, and pterosaurs. Archosaur palaeontology is the scientific study of those animals, especially as they existed before the Holocene Epoch began about 11,700 years ago. The year 2017 in paleontology included various significant developments regarding archosaurs.
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's results. Nesbitt (2011) considered crocodylomorphs (crocodilian ancestors) to have been descended from taxa traditionally identified as "rauisuchians". Since Rauisuchia typically omits crocodylomorphs and would therefore be paraphyletic with his results, Nesbitt decided to scrap the name, replacing it with the monophyletic clade Paracrocodylomorpha. This clade itself is allied with the Swiss suchian Ticinosuchus based primarily on similarities of the ischium.
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In the Nile crocodile as well as in at least 13 other species of crocodilian, a variety of fruit (mostly fleshy) has been found in stomach content. While these are probably sometimes used as gastroliths, they are likely often ingested for their nutritional value. Based on these findings, it has also been suggested that crocodiles may act as seed dispersers.
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More or less, the size of the tendons used to impart bite force increases with body size and the larger the crocodilian gets, the stronger its bite is likely to be. Therefore, a male saltwater crocodile, which had attained a length around , was found to have the most powerful biting force ever tested in a lab setting for any type of animal.
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A row of sculptures lines the west side of the structure, including six monuments, a stela and an altar. Further monuments line the east side, one of which may be the head of a crocodilian, the others are plain. Sculpture 69 is located on the south side of the structure. Structure 17 is located in the South Group, on the Santa Margarita plantation.
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The Marine Crocodilian Hyposaurus in North America. from Ancient Marine Reptiles, editors J. M. Callaway and E. L. Nicholls, Academic Press. It was related to Dyrosaurus, and is the only dyrosaurid known from the western hemisphere. The priority of the species H. rogersii has been debated,Parris, D. C. 1986, Biostratigraphy of the fossil crocodile Hyposaurus Owen from New Jersey.
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Leptorrhamphus is an extinct genus of gavialoid crocodilian that lived during the Middle to Late Miocene in what is now Argentina. Fossils of the crocodile have been found in the formation then named Entrerriana Formation, in modern literature referred to as the Ituzaingó Formation.Barrancas del Rio Parana at Fossilworks.org The type species is L. entrerrianus, named after the formation in 1890.
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The year 2013 in Archosaur paleontology was eventful. Archosaurs include the only living dinosaur group — birds — and the reptile crocodilians, plus all extinct dinosaurs, extinct crocodilian relatives, and pterosaurs. Archosaur palaeontology is the scientific study of those animals, especially as they existed before the Holocene Epoch began about 11,700 years ago. The year 2013 in paleontology included various significant developments regarding archosaurs.
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Brown, R. M., Siler, C. D., Richards, S. J., Diesmos, A. C. and Cannatella, D. C. (2015), Multilocus phylogeny and a new classification for Southeast Asian and Melanesian forest frogs (family Ceratobatrachidae). Zool J Linn Soc, 174: 130–168. doi:10.1111/zoj.12232 The endemic freshwater crocodile Crocodylus mindorensis is critically endangered and is considered the most threatened crocodilian in the world.
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Perhaps an equal continuing threat is habitat destruction, since development and clear- cutting is now epidemic in South America. Spectacled caimans have now filled the niche of crocodilian predator of fish in many areas. Due to their greater numbers and faster reproductive abilities, the Spectacled populations are locally outcompeting black caimans, although the larger species dominates in a one-on-one basis.
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He spent the rest of his career in the area excavating fossils. Among his finds were two more adult Apatosaurus and one juvenile, and the partial skeletons of Allosaurus, Barosaurus, Camarasaurus, Camptosaurus, Diplodocus, Dryosaurus, Stegosaurus. Nondinosaurian finds included the crocodilian Goniopholis and the turtle Glyptops. The Carnegie Museum eventually ran out of funding for field work, which terminated in 1922.
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In one of the Aztec accounts of creation, Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca joined forces to create the world. Before their act there was only the sea and the crocodilian earthmonster called Cipactli.Olivier 2003 Tezcatlipoca stories To attract her, Tezcatlipoca used his foot as bait, and Cipactli ate it. The two gods then captured her, and distorted her to make the land from her body.
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After the eggs are laid, the females sometimes leave the nest, but other times stay to protect the eggs. The eggs are about in length, in diameter, and in weight, making them smaller than the eggs of any other crocodilian. They are typically incubated for about 70 days. On average, the temperature of incubation is , including the day and night.
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The year 2012 in Archosaur paleontology was eventful. Archosaurs include the only living dinosaur group — birds — and the reptile crocodilians, plus all extinct dinosaurs, extinct crocodilian relatives, and pterosaurs. Archosaur palaeontology is the scientific study of those animals, especially as they existed before the Holocene Epoch began about 11,700 years ago. The year 2012 in paleontology included various significant developments regarding archosaurs.
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A late surviving gryposuchine, this 2-3 meter long piscivore was the last known truly marine crocodilian (modern saltwater crocodiles that still occur in the Solomon only occasionally venture into the sea, preferring freshwater environments), found in association with sirenian and sea turtle remains. Like other insular Pleistocene megafauna, it was presumably hunted to extinction by the first human settlers of the islands.
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Carrano (2012), p. 259 In 1956, Alfred Sherwood Romer renamed Aggiosaurus nicaeensis Ambayrac 1913, based on a lower jaw found near Nice, on the authority of von Huene into Megalosaurus nicaeensis. Originally it had been considered to be some crocodilian; present opinion confirms this. In 1957, de Lapparent named Megalosaurus pombali based on three teeth found near Pombal in the Jurassic of Portugal.
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This number may be conservative in light of several areas where humans and saltwater crocodiles co-exist in relatively undeveloped, low-economy and rural regions, where attacks are likely to go unreported.Sideleau, B., & Britton, A. R. C. (2012). "A preliminary analysis of worldwide crocodilian attacks", pp. 111–114 in Crocodiles Proceedings of the 21st Working Meeting of the IUCN-SSC Crocodile Specialist Group.
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The Cuban crocodile has numerous characteristics that set it apart from other crocodilians, such as its brighter adult colors, rougher, more 'pebbled' scales, and long, strong legs. This is a small to mid-sized crocodilian. Typical adults were found to have measured in length and to have weighed . Large males can reach as much as in length and weigh or more.
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Baurusuchus is an extinct member of the ancestral crocodilian lineage, which lived in Brazil from 90 to 83.5 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous period. Technically, it is a genus of baurusuchid mesoeucrocodylian. It was a terrestrial predator and scavenger, about long and in weight. Baurusuchus lived during the Turonian to Santonian stages of the Late Cretaceous Period, in Adamantina Formation, Brazil.
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Nevertheless, the gharial's extremely slender jaws are relatively weak and built more for quick jaw closure. The bite force of Deinosuchus may have measured , even greater than that of theropod dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus. Crocodilian teeth vary from blunt and dull to sharp and needle-like. Broad-snouted species have teeth that vary in size, while those of slender-snouted species are more uniform.
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Gharial camouflaged with floating weed Being highly efficient predators, crocodilians tend to be top of the food chain in their watery environments.Pooley, pp. 76–80. The nest mounds built by some species of crocodilian are used by other animals for their own purposes. American alligator mounds are used by turtles and snakes, both for basking and for laying their own eggs.
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Mating can last up to 15 minutes, during which time the pair continuously submerge and surface.Kelly, pp. 86–88. While dominant males usually monopolise reproductive females, multiple paternity is known to exist in American alligators, where as many as three different males may sire offspring in a single clutch. Within a month of mating, the female crocodilian begins to make a nest.
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It is most common in low-lying areas, but has been found at elevations of up to . In Brazil, the species lives in the rivers Amazon, Araguaia, Araguari, Itapicuru, Rio Negro, Paranaíba, Solimões, Tapajós, Tocantins, and Xingu. It is able to live in human-inhabited areas. The adult population of this crocodilian is estimated to be in the millions and stable.
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Sharks, manta rays, barracuda can be found in the seas surrounding the island. During the Pleistocene the dominant land predator was the crocodilian Aldabrachampsus which is now extinct. Three extant species of lizards occur, the skink Cryptoblepharus boutonii and the geckos Phelsuma abbotti and Hemidactylus mercatorius. Pleistocene fossils also indicate the former presence of an Oplurus iguana and other skink and gecko species.
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The specific name referred to Transylvania.F. Nopcsa, 1900, "Dinosaurierreste aus Siebenbürgen (Schädel von Limnosaurus transsylvanicus nov. gen. et spec.)", Denkschriften der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Classe 68: 555-591 Later Nopcsa discovered that the name Limnosaurus had already been used by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1872 for a crocodilian (later reclassified as Pristichampsus), so in 1903 Nopcsa renamed the genus Telmatosaurus.
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The year 2018 in archosaur paleontology was eventful. Archosaurs include the only living dinosaur group — birds — and the reptile crocodilians, plus all extinct dinosaurs, extinct crocodilian relatives, and pterosaurs. Archosaur palaeontology is the scientific study of those animals, especially as they existed before the Holocene Epoch began about 11,700 years ago. The year 2018 in paleontology included various significant developments regarding archosaurs.
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A life-sized model of Titanoboa devouring a crocodilian, from the Smithsonian exhibit On 22 March 2012, a full-scale-model replica of a , Titanoboa was displayed in Grand Central Terminal in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York. It was a promotion for a TV show on the Smithsonian Channel called Titanoboa: Monster Snake which aired on 1 April 2012.
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Crocodile fat, alligator oil or crocodile/alligator oil is a lipid substance deriving from the bodies of the crocodilian family of reptiles. Since the beginning of commercial alligator farming in the United States, Australia, South Africa and South East Asia, crocodile fat became a commercial product that can be used in a number of ways, including medicine and as a feedstock for biodiesel.
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He has published at least 92 papers, including 76 research papers, 10 reports on exploited or threatened species, and six popular papers. His first papers dealt with the skeletal growth marks in extant crocodilians, but very soon after that, he also tackled paleobiological issues, such as growth of an Eocene crocodilian then identified as Crocodylus cf. affinis. Other extinct taxa on which he has published include the Ypresian crocodilian Dyrosaurus phosphaticus, thalattosuchian crocodilians, the Triassic presumed ichthyosaur Omphalosaurus nisseri, other ichthyosaurs, the Permian diapsid Claudiosaurus germaini, champsosaurids, the placodont Placodus, Plesiosauria, the early snakes Simoliophis and Eupodophis, and the mosasaur Carentonosaurus mineaui among reptiles, and early cetaceans and sirenians among mammals. While his early papers typically dealt with only one or two taxa each, some of his most recent studies are based on comparative datasets including several taxa.
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Although it is less specialized than other big cats in predation of crocodilians, a case in Florida was documented in 2008 where a cougar hunted a sub-adult specimen of American alligator 2.69 meters long (the largest registered crocodilian taken by a cougar), which suggests the ability of large cougars to prey on similar sized specimens of the remaining big crocodilian species with which they share habitat in different parts of the Americas (American crocodile, black caiman and Orinoco crocodile). However, adult specimens of the reptiles are big enough to prey on cougars in return if they have the chance, which occurs only on rare occasions as the cougars tend to avoid bodies of water where crocodilians are present. However, there are documented cases of adult American alligators preying on cougars in Florida. Sivlerstein, Alvin (1997).
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It is the oldest known true crocodilian from Africa.Other crocodile-like animals from older strata in Africa, like Sarcosuchus, are not true crocodilians, but related animals. Ocepesuchus is based on OCP DEK-GE 45, a crushed but mostly complete skull from late Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous)-age rocks in the Oulad Abdoun Basin, in the vicinity of Khouribga, Morocco. The individual is interpreted as a small adult.
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Archosaurs are a subgroup of archosauriforms, which themselves are a subgroup of archosauromorphs. Both the oldest archosauromorph (Protorosaurus speneri) and the oldest archosauriform (Archosaurus rossicus) lived in the late Permian. The oldest true archosaurs appeared during the Olenekian stage (247-251 Ma) of the Early Triassic. A few fragmentary fossils of large carnivorous crocodilian-line archosaurs (informally termed "rauisuchians") are known from this stage.
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Males can reach lengths of , weighing up to . On average, mature males are more in the range of in length weighing up to about . As with other crocodile species, females are smaller, rarely exceeding in length even in the largest-bodied population. Like any other large crocodilian, the American crocodile is potentially dangerous to humans, though it tends not to be as aggressive as some other species.
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Earlier assigned to crocodilian groups, Streptospondylus was in the 20th century typically classified in the Megalosauridae. Recent analyses indicate that Streptospondylus is a tetanuran theropod. Allain in 2001 suggested that it was closely related to Eustreptospondylus in the Spinosauroidea. Roger Benson in 2008 and 2010 concluded that whether it is a megalosauroid, allosauroid, or a more primitive form cannot be determined because of its extremely fragmentary remains.
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The Coastal region is more humid due to its proximity to the ocean. Somalia is home to over 727 species of birds and boasts over 177 species of mammals. The Nile crocodile, the largest crocodilian found in Africa, is very common in southern Somalia. Somalia is home to a diverse variety of flora and fauna, from acacia trees, to birds, large cats, and reptiles large and small.
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Restoration of Nuthetes (centre) capturing a Durlstotherium Nuthetes was originally classified by Owen as a lizard and a varanid; later he changed his mind concluding it was a crocodilian. Only in 1888 Richard Lydekker did understand it was a dinosaur. In 1934 William Elgin Swinton thought it was a juvenile member of the Megalosauridae. In 1970 Rodney Steel even renamed the species Megalosaurus destructor.
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Under modern cladistic methodology, Proterosuchia and Thecodontia have been rejected as paraphyletic assemblages, and the pre- archosaurian taxa are simply referred to as basal Archosauriformes. In 2016, Martin Ezcurra provided a name for the clade including all archosauriforms more crownward than erythrosuchids. He named the clade Eucrocopoda, which translates to "true crocodile feet" in reference to the possession of a crocodilian-style crurotarsal ankle.
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After being referred to the Dinosauria by Moodie in 1906 it was later reclassified by Ostrom in 1971 as a crocodilian relative. Based on new material from the Morrison Formation at Fruita, Colorado, in 2005 Göhlich et al. identified it as a basal crocodylomorph ("sphenosuchian"). It is considered an example of convergent evolution, due to the similarities to caenagnathid dinosaurs, with which it was not closely related.
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This pattern of retractor muscles points to an elephantine locomotion, consistent with columnar posture. Restoration of Euoplocephalus forelimbs demonstrate similarities to crocodilian forelimb musculature. The most well developed muscles in the pectoral region had more of a weight- bearing function than a rotational one. It has also been postulated that the carpals and metacarpals bear resemblance to those of tetrapods with fossorial (burrowing) habits.
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Mating occurs in early summer, with females most commonly producing 20–30 eggs, which are smaller than those of any other crocodilian. The species is an opportunistic feeder, primarily eating fish and invertebrates. A vocal species, adults bellow during the mating season and young vocalize to communicate with their parents and other juveniles. Captive specimens have reached age 70, and wild specimens can live to over 50.
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Newborn alligators, like their eggs, are the smallest of any crocodilian, with a length of and weight of . Unlike adults, they have light speckles on their bodies and heads. Mothers help them leave the nest and bring them to the water after hatching. They grow very little in their first year, due to being able to feed for only about 2 months after hatching before the winter.
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Ikanogavialis is an extinct genus of gryposuchine gavialoid crocodilian. Fossils have been found in the Urumaco Formation in Urumaco, Venezuela and the Solimões Formation of Brazil. The strata from which remains are found are late Miocene in age, rather than Pliocene as was once thought. A possible member of this genus survived into the Late Holocene on Muyua or Woodlark Island in Papua New Guinea.
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Jinguofortis is notable for a mosaic of primitive and advanced characters, including a fused scapulocoracoid and highly reduced manual digits. A fused scapulocoracoid is a plesiomorphical feature that evolved before the origin of limb digits. These two bones become separate and form a suture contact among some reptiles (e.g., lizards, crocodilian), but become fused independently in a few lineages, including non-avian dinosaurs and pterosaurs.
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Dilong "earth dragon" is the modern Chinese term for the Mesozoic crocodilian Geosaurus (from Greek "earth lizard"). Contrast the feathered tyrannosaurid Dilong paradoxus that was named from Chinese dilong "emperor dragon". Chinese dilong or Japanese chiryū is the name of a chess piece in shogi. In Taikyoku shogi, this piece has "earth dragon" written on one side and yulong or uryū "rain dragon" on the obverse.
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This practice caused the caiman's population to drop by the millions. In 1992, a ban was issued in Brazil that prohibited the trading of crocodilian skins. This resulted in a significant increase in its population, with about 10 million specimens living in the Pantanal alone as of 2013. Current threats of the yacare caiman include deforestation, tourism, construction of dams and seaports, and illegal hunting.
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The false gharial (Tomistoma schlegelii), also known as the Malayan gharial and the Sunda gharial, is a freshwater crocodilian in the family Gavialidae. It is native to Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra, and Java. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, as the global population is estimated at around 2,500 to 10,000 mature individuals. The specific name schlegelii honors German herpetologist Hermann Schlegel.
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Teleidosaurus is an extinct genus of carnivorous metriorhynchoid crocodyliform from Middle Jurassic (late Bajocian to early Bathonian stage) deposits of Normandy, France.Wilkinson LE, Young MT, Benton MJ. 2008. A new metriorhynchid crocodilian (Mesoeucrocodylia: Thalattosuchia) from the Kimmeridgian (Upper Jurassic) of Wiltshire, UK. Palaeontology 51 (6): 1307-1333. The name Teleidosaurus means "Complete lizard", and is derived from the Greek Teleidos- ("complete") and -sauros ("lizard").
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Fossil remains have been found in the Bahariya Formation in Egypt, making it contemporaneous with the crocodilian Stomatosuchus, and dinosaurs, including Spinosaurus. It was one of the few fossils discovered by Ernst Stromer that wasn't destroyed by the Royal Air Force during the bombing of Munich in 1944. The type species, L. brevirostis, was named in 1914 Stromer 1914, p. 28 and 29, fn.
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In addition to non-crown group primitive birds like Archaeopteryx, Hesperornis and Confuciusornis, therefore, pan-group birds would include all dinosaurs and pterosaurs as well as an assortment of non-crocodilian animals like Marasuchus. Pan-Mammalia consists of all mammals and their fossil ancestors back to the phylogenetic split from the remaining amniotes (the Sauropsida). Pan-Mammalia is thus an alternative name for Synapsida.
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He was then assigned to as an instructor for the next year before being assigned to an active unit as an Offizierstellevertreter. He joined Kampstaffel 10 near Metz, commanded by Wilhelm Boelcke, in December 1915. Albatros C.III serial number 766/16, which Böhme flew in, had a fierce dragon painted on the right side of its fuselage and a crocodilian monster on the other.
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Though there is diversity in snout and tooth shape, all crocodilian species have essentially the same body morphology. They have solidly built, lizard-like bodies with elongated, flattened snouts and laterally compressed tails. Their limbs are reduced in size; the front feet have five digits with little or no webbing, and the hind feet have four webbed digits and a rudimentary fifth.Kelly, pp. 70–75.
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To tear a chunk of tissue from a large carcass, a crocodilian spins its body continuously while holding on with its jaws, a manoeuvre known as the "death roll". During cooperative feeding, some individuals may hold on to the prey, while others perform the roll. The animals do not fight, and each retires with a piece of flesh and awaits its next feeding turn.Pooley, pp. 88–91.
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Young saltwater crocodiles in captivity Mortality is high for eggs and hatchlings, and nests face threats from floods, overheating, and predators. Flooding is a major cause of failure of crocodilians to breed successfully: nests are submerged, developing embryos are deprived of oxygen, and juveniles get washed away. Numerous predators, both mammalian and reptilian, may raid nests and eat crocodilian eggs.Pooley and Ross, pp. 94–97.
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A digital articulation and manipulation of digital scans of specimen material of Kentrosaurus inferred that stegosaurids may have used an erect limb posture, like that of most mammals, for habitual locomotion while using a sprawled crocodilian pose for defensive behavior. The sprawled pose would allow them to tolerate the large lateral forces used in swinging the spiked-tailed against predators as a clubbing device.
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Welfare concerns include the threat of crocodilian diseases such as caiman pox, adenoviral Hepatitis, mycoplasmosis, and chlamydiosis. Crocodiles suffer from stress in confined spaces such as farms, leading to disease outbreaks. Most crocodilians keep a body temperature within 28 and 33 degrees Celsius. On farms, body temperatures can reach 36 degrees Celsius, which affects the animals' immune system, and puts them at risk of various illnesses.
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The breeding season begins in January or February and lasts until July. Slender-snouted crocodiles lay an average of 16 (minimum 13, maximum 27) very large eggs (relative to body size) about a week after completion of the mound nest. The nests are constructed out of decaying vegetation. The incubation period is long compared with most other crocodilian genera, sometimes lasting over 110 days.
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In one pit a crocodilian was found against a small ceratosaur, in another three decapitated ceratosaurs. The most interesting of the traps gave up the fossil remains of an 80 kg tyrannosauroid named Guanlong, sporting a crest running from its nose to the back of its head. Its discovery was hailed by paleontologists as the earliest known remains of the tyrannosauroid clan that culminated with Tyrannosaurus rex.
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In August 2015, the ship attracted international media attention when a near perfectly-preserved wooden figurehead, weighing about , of a mythical beast was recovered from the stem and brought to the surface. Suggestive of the ship's Gribshunden ("Griffin-Hound") name, the chimeric figurehead is described as a dog-like or dragon-like sea monster with lion ears, devouring a person in its crocodilian mouth.
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The native carnivore guild appears to have collapsed completely roughly 3 Ma ago (including the extinction of the last sparassodonts), not correlated with the arrival of carnivorans in South America, with terrestrial carnivore diversity being low thereafter. This has been suggested to have opened up ecological niches and allowed carnivorans to establish themselves in South America due to low competition. A meteor impact 3.3 million years ago in southern South America has been suggested as a possible cause of this turnover, but this is still controversial. A similar pattern occurs in the crocodilian fauna, where modern crocodiles (Crocodylus) dispersed to South America during the Pliocene and became the dominant member of crocodilian communities after the late Miocene extinction of the previously dominant large native crocodilians such as the giant caiman Purussaurus and giant gharial Gryposuchus, which is thought to be related to the loss of wetlands habitat across northern South America.
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The Winton Formation had a faunal assemblage including bivalves, gastropods, insects, the lungfish Metaceratodus, turtles, the crocodilian Isisfordia, pterosaurs, and several types of dinosaurs, such as the aforementioned Australovenator, the sauropods Wintonotitan, Savannasaurus, and Austrosaurus, and unnamed ankylosaurians and hypsilophodonts. Diamantinasaurus bones can be distinguished from other sauropods because of the overall robusticity as well as multiple specific features. Plants known from the formation include ferns, ginkgoes, gymnosperms, and angiosperms.
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Stromer in 1914 next to the femur of a Bahariasaurus Ernst Freiherr Stromer von Reichenbach (12 June 1871 - in Nürnberg; 18 December 1952 in Erlangen) was a German paleontologist. He is best remembered for his expedition to Egypt, which discovered the first known remains of Spinosaurus. He described the following Cretaceous dinosaurs from Egypt: Aegyptosaurus, Bahariasaurus, Carcharodontosaurus, and the enigmatic theropod, Spinosaurus aegyptiacus. Stromer also described the giant crocodilian Stomatosuchus.
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Nearby geological features include the Lokitaung Gorge and the Lubur Sandstone sedimentary sequence, more than thick. The Lubur Sandstone likely dates to the Cretaceous age of the Mesozoic, and includes dinosaur, turtle and crocodilian fossil bones. Turkana basalt columns, of the kind observed in the Lokitaung basalts. In the Lokitaung gorge, these sediments are overlain by over of basalt lava flows extending to the west of Lokitaung, called the Lokitaung basalts.
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Crocodilians are the most vocal of all non-avian reptiles and have a variety of different calls depending on the age, size, and gender of the animal. The American alligator can perform specific vocalizations to declare territory, signal distress, threaten competitors, and locate suitable mates. Juveniles can perform a high- pitched hatchling call (a "yelping" trait common to many crocodilian species' hatchling young)"Yelping" of alligator hatchlings. YouTube.com (September 3, 2013).
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Tool use by American alligators and mugger crocodiles has been documented. During the breeding season, birds such as herons and egrets look for sticks to build their nests. Alligators and crocodiles collect sticks to use as bait to catch birds. The crocodilian positions itself near a rookery, partially submerges with the sticks balanced on its head, and when a bird approaches to take the stick, it springs its trap.
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Asiatosuchus is an extinct genus of crocodyloid crocodilians that lived in Eurasia during the Paleogene. Many Paleogene crocodilians from Europe and Asia have been attributed to Asiatosuchus since the genus was named in 1940. These species have a generalized crocodilian morphology typified by flat, triangular skulls. The feature that traditionally united these species under the genus Asiatosuchus is a broad connection or symphysis between the two halves of the lower jaw.
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Menatalligator is an extinct genus of alligatorid crocodilian. Fossils have been found that are Eocene in age from a locality in the commune of Menat in the Puy-de-Dôme department of France. The type and only species, named in 1937, is M. bergouniouxi. The strata from which remains of Menatalligator have been found are part of the Chaîne des Puys, a volcanically active chain of mountains in the Massif Central.
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A cast of the skeleton of Borealosuchus displayed at the North Dakota Heritage Center & State Museum. Bones of this crocodilian have been found in the Ravenscrag Formation. The Ravenscrag Formation contains remains of vertebrates that provide important information about the dawn of the age of mammals after the Cretaceous- Paleogene extinction event. Material from the following groups of mammals has been reported: Multituberculata, Marsupicarnivora, Eulipotyphla, Dermoptera, Primates, Carnivora, Ungulata and Pantodonta.
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Previously, a fossil jaw recovered from the Middle Jurassic Stonesfield Slate formation in the United Kingdom, was considered the oldest known. This specimen supposedly represented a member of the family Ctenochasmatidae,Buffetaut, E. and Jeffrey, P. (2012). "A ctenochasmatid pterosaur from the Stonesfield Slate (Bathonian, Middle Jurassic) of Oxfordshire, England." Geological Magazine, (advance online publication) though further examination suggested it actually belonged to a teleosaurid stem-crocodilian instead of a pterosaur.
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When the animal completely submerges, the nictitating membranes cover its eyes. In addition, glands on the nictitating membrane secrete a salty lubricant that keeps the eye clean. When a crocodilian leaves the water and dries off, this substance is visible as "tears". The ears are adapted for hearing both in air and underwater, and the eardrums are protected by flaps that can be opened or closed by muscles.
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During courtship, crocodilian males and females may rub against each other, circle around, and perform swimming displays. Copulation typically occurs in the water. When a female is ready to mate, she arches her back while her head and tail submerge. The male rubs across the female's neck and then grasps her with his hindlimbs, placing his tail underneath hers so their cloacas align and his penis can be inserted.
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Those souls which balance the scales are allowed to start a long and perilous journey to the Field of Reeds, where they will exist in pleasure for all eternity. Hearts heavy with evil tip and fall into the crocodilian jaws of the demon Ammit. After this "second death", the soul is doomed to restlessness in Duat. The souls who qualify undergo a long journey and face many perils before reaching Aaru.
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Dakosaurus maximus leaping after two pterosaurs All currently known species would have been approximately 4 to 5 metres in length, which when compared to living crocodilians, Dakosaurus can be considered large-sized. Its body was streamlined for greater hydrodynamic efficiency, which along with its finned tail made it a more efficient swimmer than modern crocodilian species.Massare JA. 1988. Swimming capabilities of Mesozoic marine reptiles; implications for method of predation.
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Nordenosaurus is an extinct genus of crocodilian. When first named in 1973 the genus was thought to be a squamate and was assigned to the family Xenosauridae. A single frontal bone was found from the Norden Bridge locality of the lower Valentine Formation in Brown County, Nebraska, thought to date back to the late Miocene. The size of the bone was initially taken as evidence that it was a giant xenosaurid.
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Many scholars have proposed various large beasts in the animal kingdom as to its identity. Budge suggested it may be a crocodilian native to the Ganges, and hinted the Syriac name might be a corruption of the makara, a composite creature in Hindu mythology. It may also be based on Ctesias's description of the giant fanged Indus worm. The makara theory and Ctesia's influence is also supported by Gunderson.
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Argochampsa (meaning "Argo crocodile", in reference to the mythological Argo of Jason) is an extinct genus of eusuchian crocodylomorph, usually regarded as a gavialoid crocodilian, related to modern gharials. It lived in the Paleocene of Morocco. Described by Hua and Jouve in 2004, the type species is A. krebsi, with the species named for . Argochampsa had a long narrow snout, and appears to have been marine in habits.
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Cuvier's dwarf caiman (Paleosuchus palpebrosus) is a small crocodilian in the alligator family from northern and central South America. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. It lives in riverine forests, flooded forests near lakes, and near fast-flowing rivers and streams. It can traverse dry land to reach temporary pools and tolerates colder water than other species of caimans.
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India contains 172 IUCN-designated threatened animal species, or 2.9% of endangered forms. These include the endangered Bengal tiger and the Ganges river dolphin. Critically endangered species include: the gharial, a crocodilian; the great Indian bustard; and the Indian white-rumped vulture, which has become nearly extinct by having ingested the carrion of diclofenac- treated cattle. The pervasive and ecologically devastating human encroachment of recent decades has critically endangered Indian wildlife.
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At Oarda de Jos A, crocodilian remains belonging to Allodaposuchus are very numerous; the area was probably "full of" them. Other crocodilians, such as Doratodon and Acynodon, were present in smaller numbers. Many bones found in the area exhibit bite marks, which they probably produced. Dinosaurs have also been found, including the ornithopods Telmatosaurus and Zalmoxes; titanosaurian sauropods; indeterminate dromaeosaurid theropods; and enantiornithine birds (including eggs), interpreted as representing a breeding colony.
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2900 (1878), p. 731 The term "thecodont", now considered an obsolete term, was first used by the English paleontologist Richard Owen in 1859 to describe Triassic archosaurs, and it became widely used in the 20th century. Thecodonts were considered the "basal stock" from which the more advanced archosaurs descended. They did not possess features seen in later avian and crocodilian lines, and therefore were considered more primitive and ancestral to the two groups.
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In many phylogenetic analyses, archosaurs have been shown to be a monophyletic grouping, thus forming a true clade. One of the first studies of archosaur phylogeny was authored by French paleontologist Jacques Gauthier in 1986. Gauthier split Archosauria into Pseudosuchia, the crocodilian line, and Ornithosuchia, the dinosaur and pterosaur line. Pseudosuchia was defined as all archosaurs more closely related to crocodiles, while Ornithosuchia was defined as all archosaurs more closely related to birds.
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Despite its inaccuracies, the reconstructed skull became the best- known specimen of Deinosuchus, and brought public attention to this giant crocodilian for the first time. Numerous additional specimens of Deinosuchus were discovered over the next several decades. Most were quite fragmentary, but they expanded knowledge of the giant predator's geographic range. As noted by Chris Brochu, the osteoderms are distinctive enough that even "bone granola" can adequately confirm the presence of Deinosuchus.
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An autopsy reveals that grendels (as the creatures are now known, in reference to Beowulf) are crocodilian in appearance and behavior, with powerful jaws and claws, and a sense of smell better than a dog's. Its brain shows it is at least as intelligent as a gorilla. It possesses a snorkel enabling it to lurk under several feet of water. Its cardiovascular system and musculature give it strength and stamina far beyond that of humans.
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Using its more complete relatives to estimate length, this bone likely belonged to a Sillosuchus that was in length. This would indicate that Sillosuchus was among the largest terrestrial pseudosuchians (crocodilian-line archosaurs). Sillosuchus had several unique features compared to its relatives. The neck and back vertebrae had large excavations or pockets on the side, an unusual trait that assisted paleontologists in assigning the giant cervical vertebra to Sillosuchus rather than Saurosuchus.
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Prior to the cessation of digging at Quarry 5 in the middle of 1941, this quarry had attained impressive dimensions. Its walls were nine meters (30 feet) high and the breadth of the excavation wide. Other notable quarries excavated by the Stovall team include the eighth, which produced fossils of ornithopod and theropod dinosaurs as well as other reptiles like a new species of crocodilian, Cteniogenys, and turtles. Lungfish were also preserved there.
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Page 13 – The Roperite: A flightless bird of the Sierra Nevadas, that ropes in its prey with a lasso-like beak. Page 15 – The Snoligoster: An enormous crocodilian monster of the southern cypress swamps. Being absent of any limbs the creature drives itself through the marsh aided by its propeller tipped tail. The snoligoster was spared from gun fire by a certain Inman F. Eldredge after it impaled a fugitive he had been tracking.
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The Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge is best known for its pioneering research into alligators, their natural history, their requirements and ranching. Some aspects covered include penning, stocking rates, egg incubation, hatching, rearing and diet. This information has been used by other crocodilian farms and ranches around the world. Brown pelican and bald eagle restoration projects are managed from here and striped bass are raised for distribution to river systems in the west of the state.
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Acynodon is an extinct genus of alligatoroid crocodilian. When first described it was placed within the family Alligatoridae, but has since been reclassified as a globidontan. It is the oldest and most primitive globidontan known to date, with fossils being found from France, Spain, Italy, and Slovenia. Acynodon first appeared during the early Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous and became extinct during the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary.
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Between 1971 and 2004 there were 62 crocodile attacks recorded, 17 of which were fatal. 39 of the attacks were in the Northern Territory (10 fatal), 15 in Queensland (5 fatal) and 8 in Western Australia (2 fatal).Crocodile Attack in Australia: An Analysis of Its Incidence and Review of the Pathology and Management of Crocodilian Attacks in General Table 1. Saltwater crocodile attacks in the wild, in northern Australia, 1971-2004, BioOne Online Journals.
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It developed a short secondary bony palate, with crocodilian featuring pterygoids. The elongated choana is located behind the secondary palate, which is made by the premaxilla and maxilla. In modern crocodiles, the choana is between the vomers and the anterior processes of pterygoids. The dentary forms the largest part of the lower jaw with some shallow pits, which indicated that the animal probably has 15-18 teeth, fewer teeth in the far back.
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More recent analyses starting with Benton & Clark (1988) place Euparkeria as a member of Archosauriformes in a position outside both crocodilian-line and bird-line (Avemetatarsalian). Although the ancestor to archosaurs likely shared several similarities with Euparkeria, archosaurs are probably not directly descendants of the genus. The precise placement of Euparkeria and other euparkeriids within Archosauriformes is controversial. Most analyses agree that Euparkeria was a closer relative of archosaurs than the proterosuchids or erythrosuchids were.
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Noteosuchus is an extinct genus of basal rhynchosaur known from the earliest Triassic deposits of Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. It was first named by David Meredith Seares Watson in 1912 and the type species is Eosuchus colletti. The generic name Eosuchus is preoccupied by the generic name of Eosuchus lerichei Dollo, 1907, a gavialoid crocodilian known from northern France. Thus, an alternative generic name, Noteosuchus, was proposed by Robert Broom in 1925.
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When above water, crocodiles enhance their ability to detect volatile odorants by gular pumping, a rhythmic movement of the floor of the pharynx. The well-developed trigeminal nerve allows them to detect vibrations in the water (such as those made by potential prey). The tongue cannot move freely but is held in place by a folded membrane. While the brain of a crocodilian is fairly small, it is capable of greater learning than most reptiles.
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Some became small fast-moving insectivores, others specialist fish-eaters, still others marine and terrestrial carnivores, and a few became herbivores. The earliest stage of crocodilian evolution was the protosuchians, which evolved in the late Triassic and early Jurassic. They were followed by the mesosuchians, which diversified widely during the Jurassic and the Tertiary. Another group, the eusuchians, appeared in the late Cretaceous 80 million years ago and includes all the crocodilians living today.
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Several species of crocodilian are traded as exotic pets. They are appealing when young, and pet-store owners can easily sell them, but crocodilians do not make good pets; they grow large and are both dangerous and expensive to keep. As they grow older, pet crocodilians are often abandoned by their owners, and feral populations of spectacled caimans exist in the United States and Cuba. Most countries have strict regulations for keeping these reptiles.
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In 1972, the species was declared a Class I endangered species by the Chinese government and received the maximum amount of legal protection. Since 1979, captive breeding programs were established in China and North America, creating a healthy captive population. In 2008, alligators bred in the Bronx Zoo were successfully reintroduced to Chongming Island. The Philippine crocodile is perhaps the most threatened crocodilian and is considered by the IUCN to be critically endangered.
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One of the key protectors of crocodiles today is the CSG, or Crocodile Specialist Group, started in 1971. This is a worldwide organization of biologist and other professions coming together to conserve the 23 species of alligators and crocodiles. The CSG monitors all trading of crocodile skins and helps determine if the skins are legal or were illegally taken. When this organization started, all of the crocodilian species were either threatened or endangered.
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Spectacled caiman head, with the ridge between the eyes visible Spectacled caimans in Monterrico, Guatemala The spectacled caiman is a small to medium-sized crocodilian. Females generally grow to no more than (the lower size typical upon the onset of sexual maturity), but can rarely grow to nearly . Adult males can regularly reach while large mature ones grow to , although relatively few get to the upper size. The maximum reported size for the species is .
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Albertochampsa is an extinct genus of globidontan alligatoroid (possibly a stem-caiman) from the Late Cretaceous of Alberta. It was named in 1972 by Bruce Erickson, and the type species is A. langstoni. It is known from a skull from the Campanian-age Dinosaur Park Formation, where it was rare; Leidyosuchus is the most commonly found crocodilian at the Park. The skull of Albertochampsa was only about 21 cm long (8.3 in).
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A BBC television series, The Mrs Bradley Mysteries (starring Diana Rigg) was produced in 1999; however, the characteristic cackle and crocodilian looks were absent, and the plots and characters were changed. Several of her books were published in large print editions in the mid 1980s. By the mid 1990s, only one of her novels was in regular print: a Virago Press paperback edition of The Rising of the Moon (1945) – which is still in print.
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The earliest known fossil rigid eggs were laid by South African crocodilians during the Late Triassic or Early Jurassic; however, the rigid eggshell itself was probably much older than these specific fossils. The oldest known fossil crocodilian eggs are from Early Cretaceous rocks of Galve, Spain. These eggs had microstructures identical to those of modern crocodiles. This suggests that once the crocodilian's rigid eggshell first evolved it changed very little over time.
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The Orinoco crocodile (Crocodylus intermedius) is a critically endangered crocodile. Its population is very small and it can only be found in freshwater environments in Colombia and Venezuela, in particular the Orinoco river and its tributaries. Extensively hunted for their skins in the 19th and 20th centuries, this species is one of the most critically endangered species of crocodiles. It is a very large species of crocodilian and predator in the Americas.
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The smooth-fronted caiman (Paleosuchus trigonatus), also known as Schneider's dwarf caiman or Schneider's smooth-fronted caiman,Paleosuchus trigonatus, The Reptile Database. is a crocodilian from South America, where it is native to the Amazon and Orinoco Basins. It is the second-smallest species of the family Alligatoridae, the smallest being Cuvier's dwarf caiman, also from tropical South America and in the same genus. An adult typically grows to around in length and weighs between .
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Carinodens fraasi was first described and illustrated by Louis Dollo in 1913 as "Globidens fraasi". Dollo later erected a separate genus, "Compressidens" for the species in 1924, recognising the more compressed nature of the teeth in comparison to those of Globidens. Dollo also assigned Bottosaurus belgicus, previously misinterpreted as a species of crocodilian, to the genus as Compressidens belgicus. With the name Compressidens being preoccupied by a scaphopod mollusk, Thurmond (1969) proposed the substitute name Carinodens.
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The most common dinosaur in the paleoenvironment preserved in this formation is Tenontosaurus. Other vertebrates present at the time of Tenontosaurus included the amphibian Albanerpeton arthridion, the reptiles Atokasaurus metarsiodon and Ptilotodon wilsoni, the crurotarsan reptile Bernissartia, the cartilaginous fish Hybodus buderi and Lissodus anitae, the ray-finned fish Gyronchus dumblei, the crocodilian Goniopholis, and the turtles Glyptops and Naomichelys.Nydam, R.L. and R. L. Cifelli. 2002a. Lizards from the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian-Albian) Antlers and Cloverly formations.
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The nests built on levees are warmer, thus produce males, while the cooler nests of wet marsh produce females. The female remains near the nest throughout the 65-day incubation period, protecting it from intruders. When the young begin to hatch — their "yelping" calls can sometimes even be heard just before hatching commences — the mother quickly digs them out and carries them to the water in her mouth, as some other crocodilian species are known to do.
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The American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis), sometimes referred to colloquially as a gator or common alligator, is a large crocodilian reptile native to the Southeastern United States, with a small population in Mexico. It is one of two extant species in the genus Alligator within the family Alligatoridae; it is larger than the only other living alligator species, the Chinese alligator. Adult male American alligators measure in length, and can weigh up to . Females are smaller, measuring in length.
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The designs depict "dancing figures" which is a common theme of art from the time period. The figures are seen in a cave. Archaeologist and historians attribute the setting of the cave as part of a common motif, incorporating ideas of the first humans and genesis of humankind. Nielsen and Brady believe that a deity, represented by a crocodilian figure outside the cave, is a symbol of fertility and was believed to preside over the genesis of mankind.
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The largest air-breathing survivors of the event, crocodilians and champsosaurs, were semi-aquatic and had access to detritus. Modern crocodilians can live as scavengers and can survive for months without food and go into hibernation when conditions are unfavorable, and their young are small, grow slowly, and feed largely on invertebrates and dead organisms or fragments of organisms for their first few years. These characteristics have been linked to crocodilian survival at the end of the Cretaceous.
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Funding for Stovall's field work ended with the advent of World War II in 1942, interrupting excavations at Quarries 9 and 10. In 1964, Charles Mook named the new crocodilian species uncovered by the Stovall team Goniopholis stovalli in his honor. The new theropod from Quarry 1 was named Saurophagus. In 1995, Dan Chure published a new name for Saurophagus since that name had already been used for another kind of animal; he renamed it Saurophaganax maximus.
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The Chinese alligator (Alligator sinensis, ), also known as the Yangtze alligator, China alligator, or historically the muddy dragon, is a crocodilian endemic to China. It and the American alligator are the only living species in the genus Alligator of the family Alligatoridae. Dark gray or black in color with a fully armored body, the Chinese alligator grows to in length and weighs as an adult. It brumates in burrows in winter and is nocturnal in summer.
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Brasilosuchus is an extinct genus of crocodilian that lived during the Miocene of Brazil. It contains one species, Brasilosuchus mendesi, named by Jonas Souza-Filho and Jean Bocquetin-Villanueva in 1989. They subsequently re- identified it as a species of Charactosuchus in a 1993 conference abstract, but this conclusion has not been accepted since it was not published. Along with Charactosuchus, it is possibly a member of Tomistominae, but they have not been included in a phylogenetic analysis.
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The saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) is a crocodilian native to saltwater habitats and brackish wetlands from India's east coast across Southeast Asia and the Sundaic region to northern Australia and Micronesia. It has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 1996. It was hunted for its skin throughout its range up to the 1970s, and is threatened by illegal killing and habitat loss. It is regarded as dangerous for people who share the same environment.
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CSIRO Publishing, pg. 185–186. The largest female on record measured about in total length. Female are thus similar in size to other species of large crocodiles and average slightly smaller than females of some other species, at least the Nile crocodile. The saltwater crocodile has the greatest size sexual dimorphism, by far, of any extant crocodilian, as males average about 4 to 5 times as massive as adult females and can sometimes measure twice her total length.
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However, from appearance, archosaurs resemble more of crocodiles than of birds.Clark, JAMES M. "Patterns of evolution in Mesozoic Crocodyliformes." In the shadow of the dinosaurs: early Mesozoic tetrapods (1994): 84-97. Orthosuchus resembles a primitive form of crocodilian by some of its traits: the fusion midline together at the parietal, the form of the secondary palate, the fusion of pterygoid and quadrate, the extension of coracoid, radius, and ulna, and the form of tuber on the calcaneum.
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The mugger crocodile (Crocodylus palustris), also called marsh crocodile, broad-snouted crocodile and mugger, is a crocodilian native to freshwater habitats from southern Iran to the Indian subcontinent. It is extinct in Bhutan and Myanmar and has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1982. It is a medium-sized crocodile that inhabits lakes, rivers, marshes and artificial ponds. Both young and adult mugger crocodiles dig burrows where they retreat when temperature drops below or exceeds .
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The spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus), also known as the white caiman, common caiman, and speckled caiman, is a crocodilian in the family Alligatoridae. It is brownish-, greenish-, or yellowish-gray colored and has a spectacle-like ridge between its eyes, which is where its common name come from. It grows to a length of and a weight of , with males being both longer and heavier than females. Its diet varies seasonally, commonly consisting of crabs, fish, mammals, and snails.
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The specific name of the type species, N. magnus, alludes to its extremely large size in comparison to other xenosaurids known at the time. In 1982, paleontologist Jacques Gauthier reinterpreted Nordenosaurus as a small crocodilian rather than a giant xenosaurid. The frontal bone is hour-glass shaped and covered in deep pits, unlike those of any lizard but similar to the frontals of most crocodilians. Nordenosaurus was thought to have had an arboreal lifestyle before its reclassification.
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This "skolex oil" may have actually been petroleum or naphtha, and not derived from an animal at all. Although, assuming the skolex referred to some crocodilian, oil could be extracted from this reptile. It is known that fish oils or the Ganges dolphin oil have been exploited in India, although not for incendiary purpose. The worm may have given rise to the legend of the horned creature odontotyrannus of the Ganges, reported to have attacked Alexander the Great's troops.
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Bipedalism evolved more than once in archosaurs, the group that includes both dinosaurs and crocodilians. All dinosaurs are thought to be descended from a fully bipedal ancestor, perhaps similar to Eoraptor. Bipedal movement also re-evolved in a number of other dinosaur lineages such as the iguanodons. Some extinct members of the crocodilian line, a sister group to the dinosaurs, also evolved bipedal forms - a crocodile relative from the triassic, Effigia okeeffeae, is thought to have been bipedal.
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They are still able to absorb heat through this armour, as a network of small capillaries allows blood through the scales to absorb heat. The osteoderms are highly vascularised and aid in calcium balance, both to neutralize acids while the animal cannot breathe underwater and to provide calcium for eggshell formation. Crocodilian scales have pores believed to be sensory in function, analogous to the lateral line in fishes. They are particularly seen on their upper and lower jaws.
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Single rows of paired oval scutes may have filled in between the spiked rows. The bladed scutes, an extreme of the oval scute form, may have been found at the ends of the oval scute rows. The square scutes may have been restricted to one area, such as the neck and shoulders, or they may represent the belly armor. Spiked and bladed scutes are not unknown among crocodilians, although no other known crocodilian had or has both.
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Harpacochampsa camfieldensis (front) and Baru darrowi (back, surfacing) Harpacochampsa is a poorly known Early Miocene crocodilian from the Bullock Creek lagerstätte of the Northern Territory, Australia. The current specimen consists of a partial skull and fragments of a slender snout reminiscent of that of a false gharial. It is tentatively placed within Mekosuchinae,Willis, P. M. A., "Review of Crocodilians of Australasia " (pdf). though some experts disagree with this, as H. camfieldensis would be the only known mekosuchine with a long, thin snout.
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The IUCN Red List has recorded a total of 473 species of birds and 86 species of mammals, 19 species of amphibians and 110 species of reptiles including three crocodilian species. Out of these around 54 species are considered endangered. Home to a variety of wild animals, the state has declared considerable tracts of land as areas protected for these animals only. These protected areas constitute 10.37% of the total forest area and 4.1% of the total geographical area of the state.
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Aetosaurs belong to Pseudosuchia, a clade of archosaurs that includes living crocodilians and is characterized by the distinctive structure of the ankle bones. Aetosaurs were traditionally referred to a (now obsolete) group called the thecodonts, which included all "primitive" crocodilian relatives that lived in the Triassic. With the rise of phylogenetics, aetosaurs were later placed in a group called Suchia, which included many Triassic crurotarsans as well as later crurotarsans, including crocodilians. Originally, all aetosaurs were considered members of the family Stagonolepididae.
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In reality, the crocodile is small and will not attack people unless provoked. The killing of crocodiles seems to be the major cause of the decreasing number of this species. In northeast Luzon, a community-based conservation approach developed under the Crocodile Rehabilitation Observance and Conservation (CROC) project was adopted with the aim of reaching sustainable co-habitation of crocodiles and local people. A juvenile In 2007, a specialist group was founded by several people within the Philippines, involved in crocodilian conservation.
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Elements of the left The first spinosaurid fossil, a single conical tooth, was discovered circa 1820 by British paleontologist Gideon Mantell in the Wadhurst Clay Formation.Mantell, G.A., 1822, The fossils of the South Downs or Illustrations of the Geology of Sussex, London, Rupton Relfe In 1841, naturalist Sir Richard Owen mistakenly assigned it to a crocodilian he named Suchosaurus (meaning "crocodile lizard").Owen, R. (1840–1845). Odontography. London: Hippolyte Baillière, 655 pp, 1–32Owen, R., 1842, Report on British fossil reptiles.
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Suchia was originally formalized by German paleontologist Bernard Krebs in 1974. His intention was to link the Triassic pseudosuchians (which at that time were considered to have left no descendants) with the true crocodilians that would evolve later in the Mesozoic. Suchia was named as an order united by the possession of a crurotarsal ankle, with Pseudosuchia and Crocodilia as independent suborders within it. However, newer studies starting in the 1980s have significantly altered the traditional classification scheme of crocodilian ancestors.
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The animal is probably quadrupedal because the fore limbs are approximately 91% the length of the hind limb, which also makes the walking on land easier. Unlike modern crocodiles, Orthosuchus does not creep on its belly; it probably walks at a high position with its femur vertical to the ground. According to Parrish, primitive crocodylomorph did not have a crawling stance because it was more used to the terrestrial environment.Parrish, J.M. (1987) ‘The origin of crocodilian locomotion’, Paleobiology, 13(4), pp. 396–414.
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Eosuchus (Dawn Crocodile) is an extinct genus of eusuchian crocodylomorph, usually regarded as a gavialoid crocodilian. It might have been among the most basal of all gavialoids, lying crownward of all other known members of the superfamily, including earlier putative members such as Thoracosaurus and Eothoracosaurus. Fossils have been found from France as well as eastern North America in Maryland, Virginia, and New Jersey. The strata from which specimens have been found date back to the late Paleocene and early Eocene epochs.
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As well as the serpent, the Nile crocodile was another important reptile in Ancient Egyptian religion. Several deities were depicted in crocodilian form, but the most famous and important of these was undoutedly the god Sobek. Sobek was a powerful and fearsome god, associated with violence and strength, and acted as a fierce protector against evil, and a punisher of wrongdoers. It is easy to see why he was associated with the crocoodile, which similarly is a very fearsome creature.
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In addition to non-crown group primitive birds like Archaeopteryx, Hesperornis and Confuciusornis, stem group birds include the dinosaurs and the pterosaurs. The last common ancestor of birds and crocodilians—the first crown group archosaur—was neither bird nor crocodilian and possessed none of the features unique to either. As the bird stem group evolved, distinctive bird features such as feathers and hollow bones appeared. Finally, at the base of the crown group, all traits common to extant birds were present.
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This type of keratin, previously thought to be specific to feathers, is suppressed during embryological development of the alligator and so is not present in the scales of mature alligators. The presence of this homologous keratin in both birds and crocodilians indicates that it was inherited from a common ancestor. This may suggest that crocodilian scales, bird and dinosaur feathers, and pterosaur pycnofibres are all developmental expressions of the same primitive archosaur skin structures; suggesting that feathers and pycnofibers could be homologous.
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Brazaitis has contributed to multiple projects on crocodilian biology and the conservation of commercially utilized reptiles. In 1967 he developed a methodology for sexing crocodilians, an essential technique for successful captive breeding of these animals. In 1968, he initiated the first captive breeding attempt for endangered Chinese alligators. Under the leadership of Behler, it later became the basis for the first AZA Species Survival Plan and a collaborative captive breeding program for the species at the Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge in Grand Chenier, Louisiana.
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Prior to 1988, Crocodilia/Crocodylia was a group that encompassed the modern-day animals (the crown group) as well as their more distant relatives now in the larger groups called Crocodylomorpha and Pseudosuchia. Under its current definition Crocodylia is restricted to only the most recent ancestor of today's modern-day crocodilians (alligators, crocodiles, and gharials). This distinction is more important for paleontologists studying crocodilian evolution. As such, the alternate spellings Crocodilia and Crocodylia are still used interchangeably in the neontological literature.
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Captive Indian gharial basking and gaping Crocodilians are ectotherms, producing relatively little heat internally and relying on external sources to raise their body temperatures. The sun's heat is the main means of warming for any crocodilian, while immersion in water may either raise its temperature by conduction, or cool the animal in hot weather. The main method for regulating its temperature is behavioural. For example, an alligator in temperate regions may start the day by basking in the sun on land.
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However, tegus have demanding husbandry requirements due to their large size. Within their native range, tegus are often thought of as pests, sometimes raiding chicken coops to feed on the eggs or fowl.Guide to Lizards, Robert G. Sprackland, Ph.D. They are noted predators of ground nesting bird and crocodilian eggs, and in some areas 80% of spectacled caiman nests are destroyed by tegus. In South Florida, they have become an invasive species, and prey on the eggs of American alligators instead.
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He was the first physician to attribute the vision function to the posterior cortex. He published his findings in an 1855 treatise titled "Osservazioni sul nervo ottico" (Observations on the Optic Nerve). At the time, his discovery was largely ignored, and it would be several years until the importance of Panizza's findings were realized. In 1833 he described the "foramen of Panizza", defined as a hole with a valve that connects the left and right aorta in the crocodilian heart.
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Postosuchus was a land living crocodilian that lived in North America and was the top predator in its ecosystem. A Postosuchus seemingly comes through an anomaly to a South African Safari Park and kills a Eustreptospondylus (however, it is later revealed that both creatures were captured and transported the park by Tom Samuels' people). It later kills several zebra and wildebeest. The creature is later lured by an impala and attacks the team before Sophie sacrifices her life to save Danny.
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The most common dinosaur in the paleoenvironment preserved in the Antlers Formation is the ornithopod Tenontosaurus. Other vertebrates present at the time of Astrodon included the amphibian Albanerpeton arthridion, the reptiles Atokasaurus metarsiodon and Ptilotodon wilsoni, the crurotarsan reptile Bernissartia, the cartilaginous fish Hybodus buderi and Lissodus anitae, the ray-finned fish Gyronchus dumblei, the crocodilian Goniopholis, and the turtles Glyptops and Naomichelys.Nydam, R. L. and R. L. Cifelli. 2002a. Lizards from the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian–Albian) Antlers and Cloverly formations.
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The mugger crocodile is also very dangerous to humans, killing several people in India every year and with a fatality rate (slightly less than half of all attacks are fatal) that is almost as high. Unlike the predatory attacks by Nile and saltwater crocodiles, victims of mugger crocodiles are often not eaten, indicating that many attacks by this species are territorial or defensive rather than predatory.Sideleau, B., and Britton A.R.C. (2012). A preliminary analysis of worldwide crocodilian attacks. pp. 111–114.
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Crocodilian sense of smell is also very well developed, aiding them to detect prey or animal carcasses that are either on land or in water, from far away. It is possible that crocodiles use olfaction in the egg prior to hatching. Chemoreception in crocodiles is especially interesting because they hunt in both terrestrial and aquatic surroundings. Crocodiles have only one olfactory chamber and the vomeronasal organ is absent in the adults indicating all olfactory perception is limited to the olfactory system.
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Aktiogavialis is an extinct genus of crocodylian that lived from the Oligocene until the Miocene in what is now the Caribbean. Two species have been described: Aktiogavialis puertoricensis from the Middle Oligocene of Puerto Rico and Aktiogavialis caribesi from the Huayquerian of the Late Miocene of Venezuela. As a typical gavialoid, Aktiogavialis followed the standard crocodilian body plan. An elongated, squat quadrupedal body terminated in a long, laterally flattened tail at one end, and a specialized, narrow snout at the other.
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Crocodilian eggs are somewhat brittle, but softer than bird eggs. Young of this species hatch after 75–80 days. An American crocodile hatchling in Colombia This species exists mostly in tropical areas with distinct rainy seasons, and the young hatch near the time of the first rains of the summer (July–August) after the preceding dry season, and before the bodies of water where they live flood. In this stage of development of their young, mother American crocodiles exhibit a unique mode of parental care.
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The American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) is a species of crocodilian found in the Neotropics. It is the most widespread of the four extant species of crocodiles from the Americas, with populations present from South Florida and the coasts of Mexico to as far south as Peru and Venezuela. The habitat of the American crocodile consists largely of coastal areas. It is also found in river systems, but tends to prefer salinity, resulting in the species congregating in brackish lakes, mangrove swamps, lagoons, cays, and small islands.
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Asides from Brancasaurus, other constituents of the Bückeberg Group are benthic invertebrates, including neomiodontid bivalves; hybodont sharks, including Hybodus, Egertonodus, Lonchidion, and Lissodus; the actinopterygian fish Caturus, Lepidotes, Coelodus, Sphaerodus, Ionoscopus, and Callopterus, which Brancasaurus would have preyed on in surface waters; the turtle Desmemys; crocodilians, including Goniopholis, Pholidosaurus, and Theriosuchus; the theropod Altispinax; the marginocephalian Stenopelix; and an ankylosaur referred to Hylaeosaurus. Other indeterminate remains have been assigned to pterosaurs; the crocodilian clades Hylaeochampsidae and Eusuchia; and the dinosaurian clades Dryosauridae, Ankylopollexia, Troodontidae, and Macronaria.
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In 1903, at Willow Creek, Montana, several fossil osteoderms were discovered "lying upon the surface of the soil" by John Bell Hatcher and T.W. Stanton. These osteoderms were initially attributed to the ankylosaurid dinosaur Euoplocephalus. Excavation at the site, carried out by W.H. Utterback, yielded further fossils, including additional osteoderms, as well as vertebrae, ribs, and a pubis. When these specimens were examined, it became clear that they belonged to a large crocodilian and not a dinosaur; upon learning this, Hatcher "immediately lost interest" in the material.
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Numerous crocodilians have been found in Galve. One particularly notable find is an outcrop of the Villar del Arzobispo Formation at El Cantalar that preserves a trackway produced by a crocodyliform that measures approximately 12 meters in length, comparable in size to Deinosuchus, Sarcosuchus, and the unique Stomatosuchus. Furthermore, teeth, osteoderms, and bones belonging to atoposaurids, Bernissartia, and possibly pholidosaurids and teleosaurids are all known from the Galve region, illustrating the amount of crocodilian material preserved at the site.Sánchez- Hernández, B., Benton, M. J. & Naish, D. 2007.
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American alligators are less vulnerable to cold than American crocodiles. Unlike an American crocodile, which would immediately succumb to the cold and drown in water at or less, an American alligator can survive in such temperatures for some time without displaying any signs of discomfort. This adaptiveness is thought to be why American alligators are widespread further north than the American crocodile. In fact, the American alligator is found farther from the equator and is more equipped to handle cooler conditions than any other crocodilian.
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An inflexible joint is formed between the tooth and the bone at the apical end of the tooth where the epithelium remains open. # In amphibians and non-crocodilian reptiles a continuous root sheath or HERS is formed without fragmentation of the epithelium. Once again a rather rigid connection between bone and tooth is formed at the apical end of the tooth where no epithelium is present. # In crocodilians and mammals the HERS is a transient structure and fragments to form the epithelial cell rests of Malassez.
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This is a list of fictional crocodiles and alligators from literature, folklore and myth, mascots and emblems of teams and organizations, comics, films, animations and video games. This list is subsidiary to the list of fictional animals. It is restricted to notable crocodilian characters from notable works of fiction. Characters that appear in multiple media may have separate listings for each appearance, while in instances where a character has appeared in several separate works in a single medium, only the earliest will be recorded here.
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Science Resource Center, Wildlife Conservation Society The false gharial has one of the slimmest snouts of any living crocodilian, perhaps comparable to the slender-snouted crocodile and the freshwater crocodile in the extent of slenderness, only that of the gharial is noticeably more slim.Piras, P., Colangelo, P., Adams, D. C., Buscalioni, A., Cubo, J., Kotsakis, T., & Raia, P. (2010). The Gavialis–Tomistoma debate: the contribution of skull ontogenetic allometry and growth trajectories to the study of crocodylian relationships. Evolution & development, 12(6): 568−579.
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Brachygnathosuchus is an extinct genus of crocodilian. Fossils have been found from the Upper Purus River in western Brazil. As there were no lithified strata for the original specimen to be correlated with (it was found in the silt of the riverbed), the fossils cannot be dated with any certainty. However, partial remains of different organisms found in the vicinity of the specimen, such as a possible Megamys tooth and a humerus of a megalonychine ground sloth, suggest that they were of Pliocene age.
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The name Brachygnathosuchus (Greek for "short jawed crocodile") refers to its characteristically broad, stout mandible, unusual among crocodilians. The holotype specimen was referred to Crocodilia on the basis of a partial right ramus of the lower jaw consisting of a portion of a very large dentary bone. The bone differs from those of other related fossil and modern crocodilians and was originally said to resemble that of a dinosaur. An eroded osteoderm also associated with the specimen provides further evidence for its classification as a crocodilian.
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This involves the hind limbs launching the body forward and the fore limbs subsequently taking the weight. Next, the hind limbs swing forward as the spine flexes dorso- ventrally, and this sequence of movements is repeated. During terrestrial locomotion, a crocodilian can keep its back and tail straight, since the scales are attached to the vertebrae by muscles. Whether on land or in water, crocodilians can jump or leap by pressing their tails and hind limbs against the substrate and then launching themselves into the air.
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With such a great area for lung expansion, American alligators use this space to create infrasound vibrations during mating that also includes a loud bellow. Crocodilians actually have a muscular diaphragm that is analogous to the mammalian diaphragm. The difference is that the muscles for the crocodilian diaphragm pull the pubis (part of the pelvis, which is movable in crocodilians) back, which brings the liver down, thus freeing space for the lungs to expand. This type of diaphragmatic setup has been referred to as the "hepatic piston".
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Crocodiles have the abdominal ribs modified into gastralia Tyrannosaurus gastralia Gastralia (singular gastralium) are dermal bones found in the ventral body wall of modern crocodilian and Sphenodon species. They are found between the sternum and pelvis, and do not articulate with the vertebrae. In these reptiles, gastralia provide support for the abdomen and attachment sites for abdominal muscles. Gastralia may have been derived from the ventral scales found in animals like rhipidistians, labyrinthodonts, and Acanthostega, and may be related to ventral elements of turtle plastrons.
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Actinopterygian fish are abundant, being represented by Lepidotes, Macromesodon, Proscinetes, Coelodus, Macrosemius, Notagogus, Histionotus, Ionoscopus, Callopterus, Caturus, Sauropsis, Belonostomus, and Thrissops. Also present are at least five distinct morphologies of hybodont sharks, the neoselachians Palaeoscyllium, Synechodus and Asterodermus. Two marine crocodilians are known from Langenberg, Machimosaurus and Steneosaurus, which likely fed off turtles and fish, and the amphibious crocodilian Goniopholis has also been found. Skeleton of coexisting Knoetschkesuchus Conifer cones and twigs can be identified as the araucarian Brachyphyllum, from the terrestrial fossils of the site.
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A crocodilian farm in Louisiana (in reality, Jamaica) is featured in the 1973 James Bond film Live and Let Die. Tee Hee Johnson, one of the villain's henchman, attempts to feed James Bond to the alligators and crocodiles. In the second season of The Amazing Race Australia, teams had to visit a Cuban alligator farm and feed a wheelbarrow full of chum to a pen of alligators along with capturing an alligator with a stick and rope in order to receive their next clue.
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Mekosuchinae is an extinct subfamily of crocodylids from Australia and the South Pacific. They first appear in the fossil record in the Eocene in Australia, and survived until the arrival of humans: in the Pleistocene in Australia and within the Holocene in the Pacific islands of Fiji, New Caledonia and Vanuatu. There is however disagreement on whether or not Mekosuchinae is a true subfamily within Crocodylidae, or a distinct crocodilian family in its own right, Mekosuchidae, within the superfamily Crocodyloidea. Mekosuchine crocodiles are a diverse group.
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Also found at the site were fish fragments, a theropod tooth, and a variety of plant fossils, including woody stems, branch impressions, cones and cone scales, and pieces of leaves. The Winton Formation had a faunal assemblage including bivalves, gastropods, insects, the lungfish Metaceratodus, turtles, the crocodilian Isisfordia, pterosaurs, and several types of dinosaurs, such as the theropod Australovenator, the sauropod Diamantinasaurus, and unnamed ankylosaurians and hypsilophodonts. Wintonotitan bones can be distinguished from Diamantinasaurus bones because Wintonotitan bones are not as robust. Plants known from the formation include ferns, ginkgoes, gymnosperms, and angiosperms.
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The Cretaceous fauna of India is well attested in both Coniacian and Maastrichtian aged sites such as the Lameta Formation. Generally speaking, the local dinosaurian and crocodilian fauna is almost identical to that of Madagascar, with clades like abelisaurids, titanosaurs, noasaurids and notosuchians being well represented here. A possible deviation is the presence of stegosaurs, the last remaining members of this lineage;Peter M. Galton; Krishnan Ayyasami (2017). "Purported latest bone of a plated dinosaur (Ornithischia: Stegosauria), a "dermal plate" from the Maastrichtian (Upper Cretaceous) of southern India".
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Ocepesuchus (meaning "Ocepe crocodile", in reference to the OCP, or Office Chérifien des Phosphates, a phosphate-mining company that participated in the excavation of the specimen) is an extinct genus of gavialoid crocodilian, related to modern gharials. It lived in the Late Cretaceous of Morocco. Described by Jouve and colleagues in 2008, the type species is O. eoafricanus, with the specific name meaning "dawn African" in reference to its great age relative to other African crocodilians. Ocepesuchus had a long snout with a tubular shape, wider than high.
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Deinosuchus () is an extinct genus of crocodilian related to the modern alligator that lived 82 to 73 million years ago (Ma), during the late Cretaceous period. The name translates as "terrible crocodile" and is derived from the Greek deinos (δεινός), "terrible", and soukhos (σοῦχος), "crocodile". The first remains were discovered in North Carolina (United States) in the 1850s; the genus was named and described in 1909. Additional fragments were discovered in the 1940s and were later incorporated into an influential, though inaccurate, skull reconstruction at the American Museum of Natural History.
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The Nile crocodile is presently the most common crocodilian in Africa, and is distributed throughout much of the continent. Among crocodilians today, only the saltwater crocodile occurs over a broader geographic area,Thorbjarnarson, J. B., Messel, H., King, F. W., & Ross, J. P. (1992). Crocodiles: An action plan for their conservation. IUCN. although other species, especially the spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus) (due to its small size and extreme adaptability in habitat and flexibility in diet), seem to actually be more abundant. This species’ historic range, however, was even wider.
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He also thought that these supposed scales were very similar to those of the lobe-finned fish Megalichthys due to their large size. English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley reconsidered the fish scales described by Agassiz and considered them to belong to a crocodilian. He first proposed this to the Geological Society of London in 1858, and went into more detail in an 1875 paper in the society's quarterly journal. By this time, new material had been uncovered from Elgin that indicated that Stagonolepis was not a fish, but a reptile.
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Being relatively small, Knoetschkesuchus would have mainly fed on invertebrates and possibly small vertebrates (including amphibians and mammals). The same diet is observed in modern juvenile crocodilians of the same size class. Localities of Late Jurassic atoposaurids shown on present-day (a) and Late Jurassic (b) maps During the Kimmeridgian, Europe was covered by the shallow inland Tethys Ocean, with exposed landmasses being a series of scattered archipelagos. Highly variable sea levels supported a highly diverse insular crocodilian fauna, with biodiversity (that of atoposaurids in particular) being driven strongly by allopatric speciation.
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He has white skin composed of crocodilian skin cells laced with self-healing hinge molecules. His internal cybernetics are built upon a haptic interface, through which the numerous cables attached along various points of his body, and covering his head, are connected. His circulatory system includes webs of titanium-reinforced biometric arteries, and his endocrine system is filled with synthetic steroids, adrenaline, and endorphins. The artificial portions of his anatomy include three grades of soft plastic that Superman had never seen before prior to his first encounter with Equus.
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The proportions of "C." megarhinus and C. niloticus are so similar that American paleontologist Charles C. Mook considered it "very probable that C. megarhinus is a direct ancestor of C. niloticus." A second Fayum crocodilian, "Crocodylus" articeps, was named alongside "C." megarhinus. Andrews distinguished "C." articeps from "C." megarhinus on the basis of its narrower snout, which is more similar to the slender-snouted crocodile than the Nile crocodile. "C." articeps has recently been synonymized with "C." megarhinus, and may represent a less mature form in the species' population.
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Philippe Matheron full name Pierre Philippe Émile Matheron (29 October 1807 - 1899) was a French palaeontologist and geologist. He was born on October 29, as the son of Jean Esprit Matheron and Rosalie Françoise Sansan. On June 7, 1896, Matheron was awarded a gold medal by the Academy of Marseille to mark his 60th year as an academic. Matheron named the dinosaurs Hypselosaurus and Rhabdodon, and the crocodilian Crocodylus affuvelensis (now in its own genus, Massaliasuchus) in 1869, in addition to describing the first eggshells that are now considered dinosaurs.
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The BBPI’s dig sites are largely within the Lance and Morrison formations, though they have also spanned through the Cloverly, Fort Union, and Willwood formations. Nearly all of the BBPI’s localities lie within Carbon County, MT. Among the BBPI’s excavation sites is the Mother’s Day Quarry which the team has been excavating since the summer of 2017. The BBPI has excavated a wide variety of dinosaur genera including Diplodocus, Tyrannosaurus, Allosaurus, Triceratops, Leptoceratops, Suuwassea, Edmontosaurus, Ankylosaur, and many others. Their finds have included many crocodilian, turtle, and plant fossils as well.
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She will try to look after her young for several months but the baby caimans are largely independent and most do not survive to maturity. Baby black caimans are subject to predation even more regularly after they hatch, facing many of the same mesopredators, as well any other crocodilian (including those of their own species), large snake or large, carnivorous fish that they encounter. Predation is so common that black caimans count on their young to survive via safety in numbers. The female black caiman only breeds once every 2 to 3 years.
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Evidence has suggested fairly large river turtles can be counted among the prey of adult black caimans, the bite force of which is apparently sufficient to shatter a turtle shell. Scars on Amazon river dolphins suggest they may occasionally be attacked by black caimans. Compared to the smaller caiman species, the black caiman more often hunts terrestrially at night, using its acute hearing and sight. As with all crocodilian species, their teeth are designed to grab but not chew, so they generally try to swallow their food whole after drowning or crushing it.
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Spinosaurids were large bipedal carnivores. Their crocodilian-like skulls were long, low and narrow, bearing conical teeth with reduced or absent serrations. The tips of their upper and lower jaws fanned out into a spoon-shaped structure similar to a rosette, behind which there was a notch in the upper jaw that the expanded tip of the lower jaw fit into. The nostrils of spinosaurids were retracted to a position further back on the head than in most other theropods, and they had bony crests on their heads along the midline of their skulls.
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Only approximately 1% of the hatchlings will survive to adulthood. By crocodilian standards, saltwater crocodile hatchlings are exceptionally aggressive to one another and will often fight almost immediately after being transported to water by their mother. The young naturally start to disperse after around 8 months, and start to exhibit territorial behaviour at around 2.5-years-old. They are the most territorial of extant crocodilians and, due to their aggressiveness to conspecifics, from the dispersed immature stage on, they are never seen in concentrations or loose groups as are most other crocodilians.
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Like most other Paleogene crocodyloids, Asiatosuchus has a generalized crocodilian skull that is triangular in shape when viewed from above. Asiatosuchus species have teeth in the upper jaw that completely overlap the teeth in the lower jaw, giving them overbites. An overbite is a primitive feature among crocodyloids because modern crocodiles have teeth in the upper and lower jaws that interlock with each other with little overlap. Asiatosuchus can be distinguished from other early crocodyloids by its extended mandibular symphysis, the region where the two halves of the lower jaws connect.
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As indicated by the name, Hypselornis was originally interpreted as a fossil bird. It was first classified by Davies as belonging to a three-toe ratite similar to but distinct from emus and cassowaries, with a closer resemblance to the latter. Lydekker agreed with this classification when he named it as its own genus and included it within the family Casuariidae. However, when the fossil was later examined by ornithologist Percy Lowe in 1929, he concluded that the bone was certainly not from a bird and instead most likely belonged to a crocodilian.
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The yacare caiman (Caiman yacare), also known commonly as the jacare caiman, Spanish 'yacaré', Paraguayan caiman, piranha caiman, red caiman, southern spectacled caiman,, jacaré in Portuguese and îakaré in Old Tupi, is a species of caiman, a crocodilian in the family Alligatoridae. The species is endemic to Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay. Brown in color and covered with dark blotches, males grow to a total length (including tail) of 2–3 metres (6.6–9.8 ft) and females to 1.4 metres (4.6 ft). Typical habitats of this caiman include lakes, rivers, and wetlands.
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Musturzabalsuchus and Acynodon, a contemporary crocodilian also common from Laño, are thought to have been closely related to Paleolaurasian alligatoroids. The later genus is the only taxon not known from North America to be related to the more derived Late Cretaceous tribodont alligatorids. It is clear that Musturzabalsuchus was endemic to Europe, and was most likely restricted to Ibero-Armorica Island,Ibero-Armorica consisted of what is now the Iberian Peninsula and southern France as the genus is absent from Northern and Eastern European localities from which other alligatoroid fossils have been found.
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Anthracosauria is an order of extinct reptile-like amphibians (in the broad sense) that flourished during the Carboniferous and early Permian periods, although precisely which species are included depends on one's definition of the taxon. "Anthracosauria" is sometimes used to refer to all tetrapods more closely related to amniotes such as reptiles, mammals, and birds, rather than lissamphibians such as frogs and salamanders. An equivalent term to this definition would be Reptiliomorpha. Anthracosauria has also been used to refer to a smaller group of large, crocodilian-like aquatic tetrapods also known as embolomeres.
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The type species of Dollosuchus is D. dixoni. Many other species that once belonged to other genera have been proposed as members of the genus, but little work has been published to support these claims. Charactosuchus kugleri, another Eocene crocodilian, has been suggested to be synonymous with Dollosuchus, but this is no longer likely because C. kugleri is now thought to be a member of the family Crocodylidae, and thus closer related to modern crocodiles than to gharials. It has been suggested that Kentisuchus spenceri, Megadontosuchus arduini, and Dollosuchus dixoni are cogeneric.
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Panadhro is a village located in Lakhpat Taluka of Kutch District of Gujarat State in India. Panadhro is famous for its Lignite mines, which were developed in early 1970s and are run by Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation Limited. Recently, Panadhro was in news when from Pandhro Lignite mine 9 Metre Crocodilian skeleton fossil was dug out of the mine, which was about 90 million years old.Palaeolithic foot prints The town of S. K. Varmanagar developed after Panadhro mines were discovered is just a few kilometers away and fulfills the daily needs of mining community.
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Wilkinson LE, Young MT, Benton MJ. 2008. A new metriorhynchid crocodilian (Mesoeucrocodylia: Thalattosuchia) from the Kimmeridgian (Upper Jurassic) of Wiltshire, UK. Palaeontology 51 (6): 1307-1333. This, as well as further study showing that traditional metriorhynchid genera were not grouped based on actual relationships, necessitated almost all traditional species being removed from Geosaurus and reclassified elsewhere, as well as several species previously placed in other genera to be reclassified as species of Geosaurus. The species included below follow this revised classification, presented by Young and Andrade in 2009.
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For example, it is thought that ammonites were the principal food of mosasaurs, a group of giant marine reptiles that became extinct at the boundary. The largest air-breathing survivors of the event, crocodyliforms and champsosaurs, were semi-aquatic and had access to detritus. Modern crocodilians can live as scavengers and survive for months without food, and their young are small, grow slowly, and feed largely on invertebrates and dead organisms for their first few years. These characteristics have been linked to crocodilian survival at the end of the Cretaceous.
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Most crocodilians live in the lowlands, and few are found above , where the temperatures are typically about 5 °C (9 °F) lower than at the coast. None of them permanently reside in the sea, though some can venture into it, and several species can tolerate the brackish water of estuaries, mangrove swamps, and the extreme salinity of hypersaline lakes.Alcala and Dy-Liacco, pp. 136–139. The saltwater crocodile has the widest distribution of any crocodilian, with a range extending from eastern India to New Guinea and northern Australia.
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The social life of a crocodilian begins while it is still in the egg, because the young start communicating with each other before they are hatched. It has been shown that a light tapping noise near the nest will be repeated by the young, one after another. Such early communication may help them to hatch simultaneously. Once it has broken out of the egg, a juvenile produces yelps and grunts either spontaneously or as a result of external stimuli and even unrelated adults respond quickly to juvenile distress calls.
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In 1969, a lower jaw of a crocodilian that dated back to the Lutetian stage of the Eocene was found in the Chapelton Formation of Saint James Parish, Jamaica, and was described as belonging to a new species of Charactosuchus named C. kugleri.Portell, R. W., Donovan, S. K., and Domning, D. P. (2001). Early Tertiary vertebrate fossils from seven Rivers, Parish of St. James, Jamaica, and their biogegraphical implications. Biogeography of the West Indies 191-200 However, this species may be considered synonymous with Dollosuchus, according to later papers.
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The spectacled caiman has the largest range of any caiman and any New World crocodilian. It is found in various countries throughout the Americas. It has been confirmed to live in Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela, and may also be extant in Belize and Bolivia. It has been introduced to Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the United States, the later in which it is sometimes mislabeled as the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis).
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In addition to hunting for its hide, more recent threats include the collection of juveniles for sale in the live animal trade, pollution, and the proposal of a dam in the upper Orinoco River region. Another problem is the increased population of spectacled caimans, a smaller crocodilian that can outcompete the Orinoco crocodile for fish due to its much larger population and much more accelerated breeding rates. It's unclear how many individuals remain in the wild, but estimates range between 250 and 1500.Information on Crocodylus intermedius. ARKIVE.
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Theropoda It has been hypothesized that male theropods possessed a retractable penis, a feature similar to modern day crocodilians. Crocodilian skeletons were examined to determine whether there is a skeletal component that is distinctive between both genders, to help provide an insight on the physical disparities between male and female theropods. Findings revealed the caudal chevrons of male crocodiles, used to anchor the penis muscles, were significantly larger than those of females. There have been criticisms of these findings, but it remains a subject of debate among advocates and adversaries.
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Comparisons between the scleral rings of Corythosaurus and modern birds and reptiles suggest that it may have been cathemeral, active throughout the day at short intervals. The sense of hearing in hadrosaurids, specifically such as Lophorhothon, also seems to have been greatly developed because of an elongated lagena. The presence of a thin stapes (an ear bone that is rod-like in reptiles), combined with a large eardrum implies the existence of a sensitive middle ear. It is possible that hadrosaurid ears are sensitive enough to detect as much sound as a modern crocodilian.
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Recent reports of fatal attacks on humans by crocodiles in Mexico. Crocodile Specialist Group Newsletter 34(2): 21-22. the Morelet's crocodile (typically considered a relatively non- threatening species, but there have been several fatal attacks),Sideleau, B. (2014). Details of a fatal attack on a human by a Moreletʼs crocodile (Crocodylus moreletii) in Belize. Crocodile Specialist Group Newsletter 33(2): 29-30. Orinoco crocodile (fatalities recorded in the 1930s and earlier when the species was more common, but today it is very rare),CrocBITE, Worldwide Crocodilian Attack Database: Orinoco crocodile, 15 June 1922.
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Cranial: The upper and lower jaws are covered with sensory pits, visible as small, black speckles on the skin, the crocodilian version of the lateral line organs seen in fish and many amphibians, though arising from a completely different origin. These pigmented nodules encase bundles of nerve fibers innervated beneath by branches of the trigeminal nerve. They respond to the slightest disturbance in surface water, detecting vibrations and small pressure changes as small as a single drop. This makes it possible for crocodiles to detect prey, danger and intruders, even in total darkness.
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Of these attacks, the highest numbers occurred between September and December, although there was at least one in each month.Crocodile Attack in Australia: An Analysis of Its Incidence and Review of the Pathology and Management of Crocodilian Attacks in General Table 4. Months in which saltwater crocodile attacks have occurred in northern Australia. All of the fatal attacks occurred while in water, rather than in a boat or on land.Crocodile Attack in Australia: An Analysis of Its Incidence and Review of the Pathology and Management of Crocodilian Attacks in General Table 3. Activities of people (62 attacks, 64 people) at the time of attack by saltwater crocodiles, 1971-2004. From June 1981 to June 1991 there were 16 crocodile attacks reported in the Northern Territory, four of which were fatal. The most recent fatal attacks include the death of an eleven-year-old girl in 2009 in the Northern Territory,Police confirm Australian girl killed by crocodile 18 March 2009. a five-year-old boy killed on 8 February 2009 in Queensland by a 4.3 metre crocodile, a 62-year-old man in September 2008 in Queensland while checking crab pots, a 37-year-old Canadian mine worker on 24 September 2005 at Picnic Beach, south of Umbakumba, who disappeared while snorkelling,Outback- crocodile-adventures.
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Longosuchus meadei (an aetosaur), Gavialis gangeticus, (a crocodilian), Saurosuchus galilei (a loricatan), Pedeticosaurus leviseuri (a sphenosuchian), Chenanisuchus lateroculi (a dyrosaurid), and Dakosaurus maximus (a thalattosuchian). Tupuxuara leonardi (a pterosaur), Alamosaurus sanjuanensis, (a sauropod), Tsintaosaurus spinorhinus (an ornithopod), Daspletosaurus torosus (a tyrannosaurid), Pentaceratops sternbergii (a ceratopsian), and Grus grus (a neornithian). Since the 1970s, scientists have classified archosaurs mainly on the basis of their ankles.Archosauromorpha: Archosauria - Palaeos The earliest archosaurs had "primitive mesotarsal" ankles: the astragalus and calcaneum were fixed to the tibia and fibula by sutures and the joint bent about the contact between these bones and the foot.
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A 2014 study suggested that it would have been able to perform a "death roll", like modern crocodiles. Reconstructed skull of D. riograndensis, Museo de la Evolución de Puebla Schwimmer and G. Dent Williams proposed in 1996 that Deinosuchus may have preyed on marine turtles. Deinosuchus would probably have used the robust, flat teeth near the back of its jaws to crush the turtle shells. The "side-necked" sea turtle Bothremys was especially common in the eastern habitat of Deinosuchus, and several of its shells have been found with bite marks that were most likely inflicted by the giant crocodilian.
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Schwimmer concluded in 2002 that the feeding patterns of Deinosuchus most likely varied by geographic location; the smaller Deinosuchus specimens of eastern North America would have been opportunistic feeders in an ecological niche similar to that of the modern American alligator. They would have consumed marine turtles, large fish, and smaller dinosaurs. The bigger, but less common, Deinosuchus that lived in Texas and Montana might have been more specialized hunters, capturing and eating large dinosaurs. Schwimmer noted no theropod dinosaurs in Deinosuchus eastern range approached its size, indicating the massive crocodilian could have been the region's apex predator.
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The Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) is a large crocodilian native to freshwater habitats in Africa, where it is present in 26 countries. Due to its widespread occurrence and stable population trend, it has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 1996. It is widely distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa, occurring mostly in the central, eastern, and southern regions of the continent, and lives in different types of aquatic environments such as lakes, rivers, swamps, and marshlands. Although capable of living in saline environments, this species is rarely found in saltwater, but occasionally inhabits deltas and brackish lakes.
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Shantungosuchus chuhsienenis was first described from an articulated skeleton that was preserved as an impression of its ventral surface. Its small size, slender body, and triangular skull made it distinct from other atoposaurids. Shantungosuchus belongs to Protosuchia, a group of early crocodilian relatives that were all rather small in size, about 1 meter in length, and terrestrial rather than aquatic. They are most easily distinguished from other crocodylians by their short premaxilla and maxillas, a transversely broad shelf on the jugal bone, and a pair of posterolaterally divergent ridges on the pterygoid, and two large depressions on the sphenoid bone.
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Pseudosuchia is one of two major divisions of Archosauria, including living crocodilians and all archosaurs more closely related to crocodilians than to birds. Pseudosuchians are also informally known as "crocodilian-line archosaurs". Prior to 2011, the clade Pseudosuchia was often called Crurotarsi in reference to the crurotarsal ankle found in almost all members of the group, which traditionally included phytosaurs, ornithosuchids, and suchians. However, a major 2011 study of Triassic archosaur relations proposed that phytosaurs were not closely related to other traditional "crurotarsans", at least compared to "bird-line archosaurs" (Avemetatarsalians) such as pterosaurs and dinosaurs.
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The Raimondi Stele is a sacred object and significant piece of art of the Chavín culture of the central Andes in present-day Peru. The Chavín were named after Chavín de Huantar, the main structure found in ruin at this archaeological site. The Chavín are believed to have occupied this space from 900 BCE to 200 BCE, which places them in the Early Horizon period of Andean cultures. The Early Horizon came to rise after the spread and domination of Chavín art styles, namely the hanging pendant eye and anthropomorphism/zoomorphism of feline, serpent, and crocodilian creatures.
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The black caiman (Melanosuchus niger) is a species of large crocodilian and, along with the American alligator, is one of the biggest extant members of the family Alligatoridae and order Crocodilia. It is a carnivorous reptile that lives along slow-moving rivers, lakes, seasonally flooded savannas of the Amazon basin, and in other freshwater habitats of South America. It is a large species, growing to at least and possibly up to in length, which makes it the fourth-largest reptile in the Neotropical realm, behind the American alligator, American crocodile, and the critically endangered Orinoco crocodile.Black Caiman (Melanosuchus niger).
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Fossils of the holotype specimen in situ The holotype specimen of Olorotitan, consisting of a nearly complete skeleton, was discovered in field work in the Udurchukan Formation of Kundur in the Amur region of Russia between 1999 and 2001. Pascal Godefroit and colleagues described and named it as a new species in 2003. It was the first nearly complete dinosaur specimen to be described from Russia, and is the most complete lambeosaurine skeleton discovered anywhere outside of western North America. Large numbers of fragmentary dinosaur, turtle, and crocodilian specimens were found in the several hundred square metre area around the discovery site.
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As in most crocodilian species, the female saltwater crocodile exhibits a remarkable level of maternal care for a reptile. She excavates the nest in response to "yelping" calls from the hatchlings, and even gently rolls eggs in her mouth to assist hatching. The female will then carry the hatchlings to water in her mouth (as Nile crocodile and American alligator females have been observed doing when their eggs hatch) and remains with the young for several months. Despite her diligence, losses of baby crocodiles are heavy due to various predators and unrelated crocodiles of their own species.
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From left to right: Diddy Kong, Donkey Kong, Dixie Kong, Funky Kong, Cranky Kong, Wrinkly Kong and Swanky Kong. is a series of video games published by Nintendo and created by game designer Shigeru Miyamoto in 1981. The series mainly consists of two genres: single-screen platform/action puzzle games featuring the gorilla Donkey Kong as the main antagonist, and side-scrolling platform games where Donkey Kong and his clan of other apes are the protagonists and player characters who usually battle the crocodilian villain King K. Rool. Additional spin-off titles of various genres have also been released.
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After its naming, several other crocodilian fossils in European museum collections were labeled as C. depressifrons. The species name depressifrons refers to the flattened shape of the frontal bone in the skull, a feature that is shared by all fossils attributed to the species. The fossils are also similar in having 6 pairs of teeth lining the symphysis at the tip of the lower jaw. As was the case for many other Paleogene crocodyloids, "A." depressifrons was originally placed in the still-living genus Crocodylus because the overall shape of its skull is similar to those of living crocodiles.
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Sub-adult members of a crocodilian social group will often stand by a female laying eggs or retrieving young from a nest to keep predators away. The female Asian forest tortoise (Manouria emys) has been reported to guard a nest site for a short period after egg laying but this instinct is very short lived. In stump-tailed skinks (Tiliqua rugosa) and Solomon Islands skinks (Corucia spp), long term bonding of pairs with each other and other members has been recorded. In the case of Corucia, orphaned young have been observed being adopted into the circulus.
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The Sivalik Hills are also among the richest fossil sites for large animals anywhere in Asia; the hills had revealed that all kinds of animals lived there. They were early ancestors to the sloth bear; Sivatherium, an ancient giraffe; and Megalochelys atlas, a giant tortoise named the Sivaliks giant tortoise; amongst other creatures. A number of fossil ratites were reported from the Sivalik Hills, including the extinct Asian ostrich, Dromaius sivalensis and Hypselornis. However, the latter two species were named only from toe bones that have since been identified as belonging to an ungulate mammal and a crocodilian, respectively.
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The microstructure of the limb bones of Terrestrisuchus show that it was well vascularised and contained large amounts of energy-consuming fibrolamellar bone tissue, indicating a relatively fast growth-rate for Terrestrisuchus compared to other archosauriforms and even other pseudosuchians. Such a high growth rate is in agreement with an elevated, "warm-blooded" metabolism. However, the related "sphenosuchian" Hesperosuchus was found to have a slower, more typical crocodilian-like growth rate, and so it is possible that the high growth rate of Terrestrisuchus was due to the sampled specimens being immature and still rapidly growing, and that adults had a slower metabolism.
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A pan- group or total group is the crown group and all organisms more closely related to it than to any other extant organisms. In a tree analogy, it is the crown group and all branches back to (but not including) the split with the closest branch to have living members. The Pan-Aves thus contain the living birds and all (fossil) organisms more closely related to birds than to crocodilians (their closest living relatives). The phylogenetic lineage leading back from Neornithes to the point where it merges with the crocodilian lineage, along with all side branches, constitutes pan-birds.
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The largest number of attacks comes from the Nile crocodile. Humans are the greatest threat to crocodilian populations through activities that include hunting and habitat destruction, but farming of crocodilians has greatly reduced unlawful trading in wild skins. Artistic and literary representations of crocodilians have appeared in human cultures around the world since at least Ancient Egypt. The earliest known mention of the story that crocodiles weep for their victims was in the 9th century; it was later spread by Sir John Mandeville in 1400 and then by William Shakespeare in the late 16th century and early 17th century.
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Crocodilians were traditionally thought to breathe like mammals, with airflow moving in and out tidally, but studies published in 2010 and 2013 conclude that crocodilians breathe more like birds, with airflow moving in a unidirectional loop within the lungs. When a crocodilian inhales, air flows through the trachea and into two primary bronchi, or airways, which branch off into narrower secondary passageways. The air continues to move through these, then into even narrower tertiary airways, and then into other secondary airways which were bypassed the first time. The air then flows back into the primary airways and is exhaled.
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They noted that oftentimes, isolated teeth are an unstable foundation for naming new theropod taxa, and most species based on them turn out to be invalid. This problem is especially common with spinosaurids, given that skull and skeletal fossils from the group are rare. Spinosaurid teeth are often mistaken for those of plesiosaurs (above) and vice versa, though there are certain differences between their dentition. Authors such as Buffetaut and Ingavat in 1986, and Hasegawa and colleagues in 2003, have noted that since crocodilian teeth are usually more strongly recurved than spinosaur teeth, they can be distinguished from each other.
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Restoration of a generic spinosaur feeding on a sauropod carcass in the Sao Khua Formation environment, a behavior hypothesized based on teeth belonging to Siamosaurus. The left Of all the Mesozoic formations in northeastern Thailand, the Sao Khua is the most abundant and diverse in vertebrate fossil discoveries. The Khorat Group yields fossil taxa only of continental origin, with no definitive evidence for marine fossils or sedimentary structures found so far. In 1963, Yoshitsugu Kobayashi of Hokkaido University reported ichthyosaur and plesiosaur teeth from the Sao Khua Formation, but these have now been identified as belonging to Siamosaurus and a crocodilian respectively.
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Information on mythological beings in early Chinese mythology often is based upon references from the Chu Ci as one of a few surviving primary sources from ancient times: among which are references to the ambiguously horned dragon (qiulong), crocodilian dragon (jiaolong), the immortal xian and zhenren of later Daoist fame, the giant bashe serpent, the hong rainbow dragon, the feilong flying dragon, and the zhulong Torch Dragon. Also, information of the meaning of and in regard to the Chinese characters used for the teng, the shi, chi also has been derived from the Chu Ci as a primary source.
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The Pristichampsus was described by Adrian Hodges and Tim Haines as a "bit souped-up for our show – bigger, more powerful, all that sort of stuff" and "a running crocodile, he's also quite bipedal". It seems to be based on the real fossil crocodilian genus Pristichampsus, of which one species (P. rollinatii) was facultatively bipedal. Pristichampsus has a vague similarity to Amut, it is later revealed that the Ancient Egyptians thought that the creature was the god Sobek, because of the similarities that they have, and that the anomaly was a gateway to the land of the gods.
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The remote location of the snake's habitat has historically made locating, capturing, and returning specimens difficult. Transporting very large specimens to museums, especially before substantial decay, is difficult (though this has not prevented the return of much larger and more cumbersome crocodilian specimens). Skins can stretch substantially, increasing the snake's size by more than 50% if stretched during the tanning process. Reports without physical proof are considered dubious if from non-scientists, as such individuals may at worst be more interested in promoting themselves or telling a good tale, or at the least may not be sufficiently trained in proper measurement methods.
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Sinraptor dongi New dinosaur taxa described by the China-Canada Dinosaur Project include Alxasaurus, Bellusaurus, Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum, Monolophosaurus, Sinornithoides, Sinraptor, and Wuerhosaurus ordosensis. An incomplete skeleton recovered from Pingfengshan in 1989 is believed to be an unidentified species of Euhelopus. The project also described non-dinosaurian fossils such as the turtles Khunnuchelys, Ordosemys, and Zangerlia neimongolensis; the crocodyliforms Rugosuchus and Sunosuchus junggarensis; the crocodilian Borealosuchus griffithi; the trace fossil Fictovichnus; and an unidentified atoposaurid tentatively assigned to the genus Theriosuchus. The CCDP also produced six distinct types of fossilized embryos believed to belong to the protoceratopsians Protoceratops and Bagaceratops.
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Experimental inoculation of American alligators (Alligator mississippienis), Siamese crocodiles (Crocdylus siamensis), and broad-nosed caimans (Caiman latirostris) with M. alligatoris yielded growth of the bacteria in all species tested. However, the infected Siamese crocodiles showed no symptoms of disease as seen in alligators and caimans. The commensal relationship observed between M. alligatoris and C. siamensis suggests the crocodilian as a potential natural reservoir for M. alligatoris. The transmission of M. alligatoris is unknown, but due to its presence in captive alligators, researchers warn against returning captive alligators to their natural habitats, fearing these animals may function as a vector for infecting wild populations.
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Burmese pythons prey on a wide variety of birds, mammals, and crocodilian species occupying the Everglades. Pronounced declines in several mammalian species have coincided spatially and temporally with the proliferation of pythons in southern Florida, indicating the already devastating impacts upon native animals. Although the low detectability of pythons makes population estimates difficult, most researchers propose that at least 30,000 and upwards of 300,000 pythons likely occupy southern Florida and that this population will only continue to grow. The importation of Burmese pythons was banned in the United States in January 2012 by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
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August Quenstedt, by contrast, argued that they walked on their hind limbs. In the early 20th century, Hankin and Watson in the first major study of pterosaur flight biomechanics concluded that on the ground these reptiles were altogether helpless and could only scoot along on their stomachs like penguins. The debate gained steam in 1957 when William Stokes reported unusual tracks left by a four-footed animal he suspected was a pterosaur walking along the ground. In 1984, Kevin Padian, who had recently argued that pterosaurs walked on their hind legs, dismissed Stokes's tracks as those of a crocodilian.
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He ruled out all then-known orders of reptiles on anatomical ground except for Crocodilia (which had a more expansive definition at the time) and the nebulous thecodontia. He considered a pseudosuchian thecodont identity, but eliminated it because all members were of Triassic age or older. Pinacosuchus would have been an archaic crocodilian because it lacked the procoelous vertebrae (concave articulation surface on the anterior face of the bone, and convex articulation on the posterior face) of more derived crocodilians, instead having amphicoelous vertebrae (concave articulations on both faces). Pinacosuchus would have been a very small crocodylomorph.
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The eggs and newly hatched young are most at risk and are preyed on by birds, snakes, rats, raccoons, and other mammals. Adults are protected by the bony osteoderms under the scales and their main predators are jaguars, green anacondas (Eunectes murinus), and large boa constrictors (Boa constrictor). The Cuvier's dwarf caiman is the only crocodilian species that seemingly does not perform the near-universal "death roll" technique used by other extant crocodilians for feeding or intra-specific combat. However, this may only be circumstantial, as specimens tested for the behavior may have been acting uncooperative with the researchers.
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The Milk River Formation is a rich fossil environment that covered near-shore and terrestrial deposits. It included a few dinosaur species like Saurornitholestes and Acrotholus, as well as a variety of other vertebrate such as the crocodilian Gilchristosuchus, various turtles and fish. The mammalian fauna was primarily dominated by metatherians and multituberculates, as usual for Late Cretaceous mammaliafaunas, but a variety of older taxa remained; besides Alticonodon, there was also the symmetrodont Symmetrodontoides, and the illusive Potamotelses and picopsids. These were the last non-therian mammals (other than the highly successful multituberculates) in North America, suggesting a relictual element to the region's fauna.
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Allain used this situation to remove all the crocodilian material from the Streptospondylus type by designating the complete (postcranial) theropod material as the lectotype. As Steneosaurus rostromajor had been based on the composite skull, the epithet rostromajor now no longer had priority over altdorfensis. This way in 2001 Streptospondylus altdorfensis became the valid name and type species of a theropod. Laelaps gallicus and Megalosaurus cuvieri are its objective junior synonyms. The lectotype specimens, MNHN 8605-09, 8787-89, 8793-94, 8907, were probably found at the coast in layers of the Falaises des Vaches Noires near Calvados, dating from the late Callovian or early Oxfordian, about 161 million years old.
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The new mother will protect her offspring for up to two years, and if there are multiple nests in the same area, the mothers may form a crèche. During this time, the mothers may pick up their offspring either in their mouths or gular fold (throat pouch), to keep the babies safe. The mother will sometimes carry her young on her back to avoid the natural predators of the small crocodiles, which can be surprisingly bold even with the mother around. Nile crocodiles of under two years are much more rarely observed than larger specimens, and more seldom seen than the same age young in several other types of crocodilian.
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Knoetschkesuchus is a genus of small atoposaurid crocodylomorph from the Late Jurassic of Germany and Portugal. Two species are known: the German species K. langenbergensis, described by Schwarz and colleagues in 2017 based on two partial skeletons and various isolated bones; and the Portuguese species K. guimarotae, named from over 400 specimens including several partial skeletons. Knoetschkesuchus was a small and short-snouted crocodilian, measuring about in length, that primarily fed on small prey, including invertebrates, amphibians, and mammals. This specialization towards small prey ecologically separated Knoetschkesuchus from most of the other diverse crocodilians that it lived with in the island ecosystem of Jurassic Europe.
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Large anacondas may take an occasional young caiman of this species. The jaguar (Panthera onca), being a known predator of all other caiman species, is the only primary predatory threat to black caimans, with several records of predation on young black caimans and eggs and a single reported instance of an adult male black caiman, measuring , having fallen prey to a large jaguar. However, very large black caimans, or more in length, have no natural predators, as is true of other similarly-sized crocodilian species given the size, weight, thick hide and immense strength and may, in rare instances, themselves prey upon jaguars.Somaweera, R., Brien, M., & Shine, R. (2013).
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Furst In Aztec mythology, Cipactli was a primeval sea monster, part crocodilian, part fish, and part toad or frog, with indefinite gender. Always hungry, every joint on its body was adorned with an extra mouth. The deity Tezcatlipoca sacrificed a foot when he used it as bait to draw the monster nearer. He and Quetzalcoatl created the earth from its body. Karl A. Taube has noted that among the Formative-period Olmec and the pre-Hispanic Maya peoples, crocodilians were identified with rain-bringing wind, probably because of the widespread belief that wind and rain clouds are “breathed” out of cave openings in the earth.
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"Prestosuchids" flourished throughout the whole of the middle, and the early part of the late Triassic, and fossils are so far known from Europe, India, Africa (Tanzania), Argentina, and Paleorrota in Brazil. However, for a long time experts disagree regarding the phylogenetic relationships of the group, what genera should be included, and whether indeed the "Prestosuchidae" constitute a distinct family. In 2011, Prestosuchidae in its broadest definition was determined to be a poorly-diagnosed and obsolete polyphyletic group of pseudosuchians (crocodilian-lineage archosaurs) leading to the more "advanced" rauisuchids and crocodylomorphs. Some studies since then have reintroduced the term Prestosuchidae in a more limited setting.
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Although most frequently compared with loricatans, Arganasuchus has yet to be properly incorporated into this newer understanding of crocodilian ancestry, and as a result its classification relative to other "rauisuchians" is poorly understood. The original description by Jalil & Peyer (2007) made many comparisons between the anatomy of Arganasuchus and other loricatans. The shape of the maxilla was similar to Batrachotomus and Fasolasuchus, the vertebrae were similar to Postosuchus, the femur was comparable to Prestosuchus, and the pubis had a few similarities with both Batrachotomus and Postosuchus. The question of Arganasuchus's relations was left unresolved, partly because its describers were aware of the uncertainty within rauisuchian taxonomy as a whole.
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Head of an Indian gharial, which has similarities to the head of Irritator In 1996, Martill and colleagues theorized that Irritator challengeri, with its elongated snout and unserrated conical teeth, likely had at least a partly piscivorous (fish-eating) diet. Although much of the holotype's morphology turned out to be greatly different than they thought, later studies supported these observations. Spinosaurids had very narrow and elongated jaws with relatively homogeneous pointed teeth, an arrangement found particularly in animals like the Indian gharial—the most piscivorous extant crocodilian. The long conical teeth, which in spinosaurines did not possess serrated edges, were suitable for grabbing and holding prey.
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Artist's interpretation of a jumping Euparkeria The family Euparkeriidae is named after Euparkeria. The family name was first proposed by German paleontologist Friedrich von Huene in 1920; Huene classified euparkeriids as members of Pseudosuchia, a traditional name for crocodilian relatives from the Triassic (Pseudosuchia means "false crocodiles"). Early phylogenetic analyses created by Jacques Gauthier in the 1980s provided an alternative hypothesis, that Euparkeria was closer to dinosaurs (including birds) rather than crocodilians. Many genera have been assigned to Euparkeriidae in the past, but only two other valid genera are currently believed to be part of the family, apart from Euparkeria itself: Halazhaisuchus and Osmolskina.
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Another American paleontologist, Edwin Harris Colbert, completed Simpson's work, thoroughly describing the genus and placing it in a new family, Sebecidae. Colbert placed Sebecus and the Cretaceous baurusuchid Baurusuchus (also from South America) in the suborder Sebecosuchia (erected by Simpson for all ziphodont crocodylomorphs), as both had deep snouts and ziphodont teeth. Bust of Sobek, the ancient Egyptian crocodile god and the namesake of Sebecus The name Sebecus is a Latinisation of Sebek (also called Sobek), the crocodile god of ancient Egypt. Sebek was considered an alternative to the Greek χάμψαι, or "champsa" in crocodilian nomenclature (the Greek historian Herodotus claimed that champsa was the Egyptian word for crocodile).
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The first fingers were large, being both longer and thicker than either of the bones of the forearm. The teeth differed slightly (they were heterodont) based on position: those near the tips of the upper jaws (on the premaxillae) were slender and lacked serrations, while those behind them (on the maxillae) were serrated and laterally compressed. The teeth of the lower jaws were similarly differentiated. A pigmented area in the abdomen of the holotype has been suggested as possible traces of organs, and was interpreted as the liver by John Ruben and colleagues, which they described as part of a crocodilian-like "hepatic piston" respiratory system.
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During Brazaitis's tenure in the Bronx Zoo, the Reptile Department bred nine species of crocodilians, producing numerous founder stocks of endangered Cuban crocodiles, Siamese crocodiles, and the first Malayan false gharials to be captive bred in a US zoo. Brazaitis was involved in field herpetological studies, including the NYZS Nixon Griffis expedition to Cameroon in 1981 to capture Goliath frogs. He also led expeditions to study crocodilian population biology on Palau and throughout South America. Since the 1970s he has served as a forensic specialist and consultant to the US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), and has received numerous awards for his service to the USFWS.
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The player character, Diddy Kong, jumping on a Kremling in Donkey Kong Country first level, "Jungle Hijinxs" Donkey Kong Country is a side-scrolling platform game in which the player must complete 40 levels to recover the Kongs' banana hoard, which has been stolen by the crocodilian Kremlings. The game features both single-player and multiplayer game modes. In single-player, the player controls one of two characters: the gorilla Donkey Kong or his monkey nephew Diddy Kong, switching between the two as necessary. Both characters offer different attributes: Donkey is stronger and can defeat enemies more easily, whilst Diddy moves faster and is more agile.
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Despite this, the material of N. longipes remained highly suggestive of a crocodilian, and thus the species was eventually placed within its own distinct genus, Erythrochampsa, in 1924. It was placed in the family Notochampsidae, and was considered closely related to Notochampsa, whose position within Crocodylomorpha had been reconsidered to be intermediate between "thecodonts" and crocodilians. The family Notochampsidae is now known as Protosuchidae There is no skull present in the material associated with the genus, making further classification rather difficult. Although the postcranial skeleton is quite fragmentary, the pelvis clearly shows of its relations to other crocodilians by the absence of the pubis in the acetabular border.
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Crocodilians also lack the lateral double recurvature of Siamosauruss tooth crowns, which, based on their shape, were vertically inserted into the jaw, whereas long- snouted crocodilian teeth are usually angled outwards from the mouth. Though Siamosaurus and plesiosaur teeth are similar in overall shape, Buffetaut and Ingavat pointed out that plesiosaur teeth were significantly more recurved. Other researchers also noted that compared to plesiosaurs, Asian spinosaurid teeth also have coarser and more numerous flutes that extend almost the whole length of the crown. In 2008, Buffetaut and colleagues stated that the "S." fusuiensis teeth bear carinae on the plane of the crown's curvature, a condition not observed in plesiosaur teeth.
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As Smilodon migrated to South America, its diet changed; bison were absent, the horses and proboscideans were different, and native ungulates such as toxodonts and litopterns were completely unfamiliar, yet S. populator thrived as well there as its relatives in North America. Isotopic analysis for Smilodon populator suggests that its main prey species included Toxodon platensis, Pachyarmatherium, Holmesina, species of the genus Panochthus, Palaeolama, Catonyx, Equus neogeus, and the crocodilian Caiman latirostris. This analysis of its diet also indicates that S. populator hunted both in open and forested habitats. The differences between the North and South American species may be due to the difference in prey between the two continents.
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Crocodile skins are extremely valuable, priced by the centimeter, and are used in the production of luxury leather goods by firms such as luxury fashion brands like Louis Vuitton. In particular, the hide of C. Porosus is the most commercially valuable of any crocodilian. It is highly prized for its regular, almost perfect pattern symmetry, and is the type used almost exclusively by Hermès; crocodile skin versions of Birkin bag and Kelly bag are made from the skin of the C. porosus. Meat is sold locally to tourists and to restaurants across the country - one kilogram of crocodile meat can fetch between 400 and 1000 Pesos ($9 and $22) in 2013.
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It was estimated more than a meter in length and lived in Russian lagoons. It had eyes positioned on the top of its head in a crocodilian or mudskipper-like fashion, and had sharp teeth, which together would have made it a capable ambush hunter of the water's edge. Like more recent cousins, it was a gill breather, and had low- lying nostrils that would have been submerged in water to drive water to the gills, but it also possessed a spiracle on the top of its head for breathing air. Spiracles were eventually replaced by ears as nostrils moved upward on tetrapods to breathe air and the spiracles became redundant.
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The smaller caimans are generally not of enough market value to farm, though captive breeding of the spectacled caiman does take place in South America. Farming alligators and crocodiles first grew out of the demand for skins, which can fetch hundreds of dollars each. But alligator and crocodile meat, long a part of Southern cooking (especially Cajun cuisine) and some Asian and African cuisines, began to be sold and shipped to markets unfamiliar with crocodilian meat. Chinese cuisine based on traditional Chinese medicine considers the meat to be a curative food for colds and cancer prevention, although there is no scientific evidence to support this.
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Argochampsa is based on OCP DEK-GE 1201, a nearly complete skull from the Oulad Abdoun Basin, in the vicinity of Khouribga, Morocco. The skull, 43.3 centimeters long (17.0 in), had a long, narrow snout, marking it as a longirostrine crocodilian; the snout made up about 70% of the skull's length. The premaxillae at the tip of the snout were downturned, and the tip somewhat squared off, with the first few tooth positions in a straight line perpendicular to the long axis of the skull. There were five teeth in each premaxilla and 26 in each maxilla (the main tooth-bearing bone of the upper jaw).
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Reconstructed skull, Museum of Ancient Life, Utah Unlike most giant theropod dinosaurs, Suchomimus had a very crocodilian-like skull, with a long, low snout and narrow jaws formed by a forward expansion of the (frontmost snout bones) and the hind branch of the (main upper jaw bone). The praemaxillae had an upward branch excluding the maxillae from the (bony nostrils). The jaws had about 122 conical teeth, pointed but not very sharp and curving slightly backwards, with fine serrations and wrinkled enamel. The tip of the snout was enlarged sideways and carried a "terminal rosette" of longer teeth, seven per side in the premaxillae and about the same number in the corresponding part of the lower jaw.
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During the 75- to 80-day incubation period, the parents will guard the nest, often inhabiting a hole in the bank nearby. Females especially have been known to guard their nests with ferocity. But in spite of these precautions, American crocodile eggs sometimes fall prey to raccoons (arguably the most virulent natural predator of crocodilian nests in the Americas), coatis, foxes, skunks or other scavenging mammals (including coyotes in Mexico and American black bears in southern Florida), as well as large predatory ants, crabs and vultures. In Panama, green iguanas were seen to dig up and prey on American crocodile eggs occasionally, although in several cases were caught by the mother American crocodile and eaten.
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Apatomerus (meaning "deceptive femur"), is a genus of extinct reptile known from a single fossil (KUVP 1199) from the Albian-age (Lower Cretaceous) Kiowa Shale of Kansas, USA. This bone, collected in 1893, was first identified as the thighbone of a crocodilian, but was described in 1903 by Samuel Wendell Williston as belonging to a pterosaur. This identification held through the 1970s, but has been abandoned. Recent summaries of pterosaur genera, such as Wellnhofer, 1991 and Glut, 2004 did not include it, and Mike Everhart, an authority on the rocks of the Western Interior Seaway (including the Kiowa Shale) identifies the bone as more likely the upper part of a plesiosaurian propodial (a limb bone).
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Euparkeriidae is an extinct family of small carnivorous archosauriforms which lived from the Early Triassic to the Middle Triassic (Anisian). While most other early archosauriforms walked on four limbs, euparkeriids were probably facultative bipeds that had the ability to walk on their hind limbs at times. The most well known member of Euparkeriidae is the species Euparkeria capensis, which was named by paleontologist Robert Broom from the Karoo Basin of South Africa in 1913 and is known from several nearly complete skeletons. The family name was first proposed by German paleontologist Friedrich von Huene in 1920; Huene classified euparkeriids as members of Pseudosuchia, a traditional name for crocodilian-line archosaurs from the Triassic (Pseudosuchia means "false crocodiles").
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Mike can be found stuck in a jam between a hanging door and the arms of Smitty, trying to pull him back, while Needleman fiddles with the control panel. Leaving the laugh floor behind, guests pass Randall again whom the guests find hides behind a door, followed by a large crocodilian monster grasping a flashlight and laughing. Leaving the factory and entering the streets of Monstropolis, various monsters (including Ted, the monster that crowed like a chicken in the film. For the first time, Ted's whole body can be seen instead of just his legs.) can be found searching the streets with flashlights, many hiding in objects such as mail boxes and television sets.
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Reconstruction of Anatosuchus showing its broad snout (with teeth) and upright walking posture In 2003, new fossils of several types of ancient crocodile were found, including one with a flat broad snout reminiscent of a duck's bill, though it has teeth and is obviously crocodilian rather than bird-like. This genus has been named Anatosuchus or "DuckCroc", and it had an upright stance rather than the sprawled legs of modern crocodiles. Pelagornithid seabirds are also compared to aquatic crocodilians and are in fact recovered as stem-waterfowl, rendering them literal crocoducks. The most recent common ancestor of duck and crocodiles is the base of the Archosauria clade, and was probably superficially similar to modern crocodiles.
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Saltwater crocodiles that survive to adulthood can attain a very long lifespan, with an estimated life expectancy upwards of 70 years, and some individuals possibly exceed 100 years, although no such extreme ages have been verified for any crocodilian. While adults have few predators, baby saltwater crocodiles may fall prey to monitor lizards (occasionally, but not commonly, the numerous goanna in Australia, and the Asian water monitor (Varanus salvator) further north), predatory fish (especially the barramundi (Lates calcarifer)), wild boars, rats, various aquatic and raptorial birds (e.g. black-necked storks (Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus) and white-bellied sea eagles (Haliaeetus leucogaster)), pythons, larger crocodiles, and many other predators.Leach, G., Delaney, R., & Fukuda, Y. (2009).
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Although dating back to the Late Cretaceous, the exact age of the strata in which material of Musturzabalsuchus occurs in the locality is not known: it is either Late Campanian or very Early Maastrichtian. Despite the unusually high quantity of remains belonging to the genus (most other continental Late Cretaceous crocodilian genera from Europe are poorly represented), the only skeletal elements known from Musturzabalsuchus are the maxilla and mandible. Some fragments of these bones have been found from the locality of Armuña in the province of Segovia that were previously referred to an unnamed trematochampsid. Like the holotype and paratype material found from Laño, these fossils, known collectively as UPUAM-502, are Campano-Maastrichtian in age.
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However, in 1913, Robert Broom looked more closely at the partial skeletons and immediately determined it to be in fact skeletons of two distinct, though related, species. Broom designated an articulated skeleton with a single external naris and a pair of supposed acrodont premaxillary teeth as the type of Mesosuchus, and the remainder of the specimens were assigned to a new genus and species Euparkeria capensis. Looking back, we see the confusion Watson had when giving the name Mesosuchus as the data for his opinion were derived from the skeletons of Euparkeria, in particular the slender lower jaw with thecodont implantation, the crocodilian-like ilium, and the construction of the tarsus and pes.
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They also presented circumstantial evidence for piscivory, such as crocodile-like adaptations for catching and swallowing prey: long, narrow jaws with their "terminal rosette", similar to those of a gharial, and the downturned tip and notch of the snout. In their view, these adaptations suggested that Baryonyx would have caught small to medium-sized fish in the manner of a crocodilian: gripping them with the notch of the snout (giving the teeth a "stabbing function"), tilting the head backwards, and swallowing them headfirst. Larger fish would be broken up with the claws. That the teeth in the lower jaw were smaller, more crowded and numerous than those in the upper jaw may have helped the animal grip food.
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After attending Isidore Newman School in New Orleans, Plotkin worked at Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology when he joined an expedition searching for an elusive crocodilian species in 1978 and was galvanized into returning to education. He completed his bachelor of liberal arts degree at Harvard University's Harvard Extension School, his master's degree in forestry at Yale School of Forestry, and his Ph.D. at Tufts University; during which he completed a handbook for the Tiriyó people of Suriname detailing their own medicinal plants--the only other book printed in Tiriyó language being the Bible. He went on to do research at Harvard under Richard Evans Schultes. He is the author of the book Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice.
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If this were the case, not only would it extend the fossil range of this lineage to a wider region, but to a broader time span as well, since Diogenornis occurs in the late Paleocene and is among the earliest known ratites. In the late 19th century, a fossil casuariid (Hypselornis) was named from India based on a single toe bone, however it was later shown to belong a crocodilian. An especially interesting question regarding this order is whether emus or cassowaries are the more primitive form, if either. Emus are generally assumed to retain more ancestral features, in part because of their more modest coloration, but this does not necessarily have to be the case.
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Makeshift barrier in Uganda to lessen the risk of Nile crocodile attacks The two species with the most well-known and documented reputation for preying on humans are the Nile crocodile and saltwater crocodile, and these are the perpetrators of the vast majority of both fatal and non-fatal crocodilian attacks. Each year, hundreds of deadly attacks are attributed to the Nile crocodile in Sub-Saharan Africa. Attacks by saltwater crocodiles often occur in Southeast Asia, Australia, New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands. Reviews indicate that at least half of all attacks by the Nile and saltwater crocodiles are fatal (in Australia, however, only about 25% of saltwater crocodile attacks are fatal).
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The genus name Phobosuchus, which was initially created by Baron Franz Nopcsa in 1924, has since been discarded because it contained a variety of different crocodilian species that turned out to not be closely related to each other. The American Museum of Natural History incorporated the skull and jaw fragments into a plaster restoration, modeled after the present-day Cuban crocodile. Colbert and Bird stated this was a "conservative" reconstruction, since an even greater length could have been obtained if a long-skulled modern species, such as the saltwater crocodile had been used as the template. Because it was not then known that Deinosuchus had a broad snout, Colbert and Bird miscalculated the proportions of the skull, and the reconstruction greatly exaggerated its overall width and length.
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King K. Rool (Japanese: キングクルール, Hepburn: Kingu Kurūru) is a fictional anthropomorphic crocodile and the main antagonist in Nintendo's Donkey Kong video game franchise, as well as the archenemy of Donkey Kong. K. Rool is the villainous leader of a group of crocodilian raiders known as the Kremlings, who have crossed paths with the Kongs on many occasions. First appearing in the 1994 video game Donkey Kong Country for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, he has been described as being "to Donkey Kong what Bowser is to Mario." He is depicted as a crazed Kremling who frequently feigns defeat in order to deceive the Kongs; he tricks them by wearing different disguises and utilizes a variety of weapons to his advantage.
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The first fossil materials were collected by an expedition of South African Museum in April 1963 led by Alfred W. Crompton. The materials were collected from the Lower Jurassic Red Bed Formation (= Upper Elliot Formation) of the Stormberg, so that as soon as they found out that the fossils belongs to a new crocodilian species, they named the species Orthosuchus Stormbergi in a paper published by Nash 1968. They also found a smaller skull that also belongs to Orthosuchus Stormbergi at the same horizon but in a different place at the same site. The main part of the skull and the law jaw was well preserved, but some of the phalanges, ribs, and one side of the pelvic girdle with its hind limb were missing.
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They can also swim at in short bursts, around three times as fast as the fastest human swimmers, but when cruising, they usually travel at . Although stories of crocodiles being faster than a race horse for short distances across land are little more than urban legend, at the water's edge they can combine propulsion from both feet and tail to give sudden bursts of extreme speed. While crocodilian brains are much smaller than those of mammals (as low as 0.05% of body weight in the saltwater crocodile), saltwater crocodiles are capable of learning difficult tasks with very little conditioning, learning to track the migratory route of their prey as the seasons change, and may possess a deeper communication ability than currently accepted.
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Her research has taken her to such diverse locales as Mata Atlantic in Brazil (working with endangered golden lion tamarins), Patagonia (right whales), Hawaii (humpback whales), California (tagging monarch butterflies at their overwintering sites), French Frigate Shoals (monk seals), Toroshima, Japan (short-tailed albatross), Texas (with Bat Conservation International), the Amazon rainforest, and Antarctica (penguins). In 1986, she was a semi-finalist for NASA's Journalist-in-Space Project—this program was cancelled after the Space Shuttle Challenger (carrying Christa McAuliffe as a payload specialist with the Teacher in Space Project) disaster. A molecule has been named after her—dianeackerone—a crocodilian sex pheromone. A collection of her manuscripts, writings and papers (the Diane Ackerman Papers, 1971–1997—Collection No. 6299) is housed at the Cornell University Library.
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Anatomy of an amniotic egg: Crocodilian egg diagram: Zoologists characterize amniotes in part by embryonic development that includes the formation of several extensive membranes, the amnion, chorion, and allantois. Amniotes develop directly into a (typically) terrestrial form with limbs and a thick stratified epithelium (rather than first entering a feeding larval tadpole stage followed by metamorphosis, as amphibians do). In amniotes, the transition from a two- layered periderm to a cornified epithelium is triggered by thyroid hormone during embryonic development, rather than by metamorphosis. The unique embryonic features of amniotes may reflect specializations for eggs to survive drier environments; or the increase in size and yolk content of eggs may have permitted, and coevolved with, direct development of the embryo to a large size.
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Saltwater crocodile resting on beach No living species of crocodilian can be considered truly marine; although the saltwater crocodile and the American crocodile are able to swim out to sea, their normal habitats are river mouths, estuaries, mangrove swamps, and hypersaline lakes, though several extinct species have had marine habitats, including the recently extinct "Gavialis" papuensis, which occurred in a fully marine habitat in the Solomon Islands coastlines. All crocodilians need to maintain the concentration of salt in body fluids at suitable levels. Osmoregulation is related to the quantity of salts and water exchanged with the environment. Intake of water and salts takes place across the lining of the mouth, when water is drunk, incidentally while feeding, and when present in foods.
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Aerial view of a crocodile farm in Cambodia Alligators and crocodiles were first farmed in the early 20th century, but the facilities involved were zoo-like and their main source of income was from tourism. By the early 1960s, the feasibility of farming these reptiles on a commercial scale was investigated in response to the decline of many crocodilian species around the world. Farming involves breeding and rearing captive stock on a self-contained basis, whereas ranching means the use of eggs, juveniles, or adults taken each year from the wild. Commercial organisations must satisfy the criteria of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) by demonstrating that, in the area concerned, they do not adversely impact the wild population.
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The dwarf crocodile is a timid and mainly nocturnal reptile that spends the day hidden in pools or burrows, although it occasionally may be active during the day. Foraging is mainly done in or near the water, although it is considered to be one of the most terrestrial species of crocodilian and may expand the feeding pattern to land in extensive forays, especially after rains. Dwarf crocodiles are generalist predators and have been recorded feeding on a wide range of small animals such as fish, crabs, frogs, gastropods, insects, lizards, water birds, bats and shrews. In a study in the Democratic Republic of the Congo the primary food item was fish, and in a study in Nigeria the primary food items were gastropods and crabs.
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This is often linked with the evolution of endothermy, as it avoids Carrier's constraint and thus allows prolonged periods of activity.Bakker 1988 The fully erect stance is not necessarily the "most-evolved" stance; evidence suggests that crocodilians evolved a semi-erect stance in their forelimbs from ancestors with fully erect stance as a result of adapting to a mostly aquatic lifestyle,Reilly, Stephen M. and Elias, Jason A. 1998, Locomotion in alligator mississippiensis: kinematic effects of speed and posture and their relevance to the sprawling-to-erect paradigm, J. Exp. Biol. 201,2559-2574. though their hindlimbs are still held fully erect. For example, the mesozoic prehistoric crocodilian Erpetosuchus is believed to have had a fully erect stance and been terrestrial.
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The Barak is among the richest rivers in the world as to aquatic biodiversity, as it contains more than 2,000 species of fish. Other creatures include River Barak or Siamese crocodile (a rare and endangered crocodilian), the susu dolphin, smooth-coated otter and black mugger crocodile. From its origin to its bifurcation at the border of Nagaland producing the Surma River the Barak is long. The biomes are extremely rich in wildlife and also very diverse in the entire stretch of the river including: #Varzea forest (flooded rainforest) #Los llamjao (flooded grassland and Savannah) #Tidal forest (mangroves in vast Delta Avourei) #Flora or vegetation of the Pats (flat-topped table mountains in India and western Cambodia) #Very large tropical swamps.
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In 2008, French palaeontologist Romain Amiot and colleagues compared the oxygen isotope ratios of remains from theropod and sauropod dinosaurs, crocodilians, turtles and freshwater fish recovered from eight localities in northeastern Thailand. The study revealed that Siamosaurus teeth had isotope ratios closer to those of crocodilians and freshwater turtles than other theropods, and so it may have had semiaquatic habits similar to these animals, spending much of its daily life near or in water. Discrepancies between the ratios of sauropods, Siamosaurus, and other theropods also indicate these dinosaurs drank from different sources, whether river, pond or plant water. In 2010, Amiot and colleagues published another oxygen isotope study on turtle, crocodilian, spinosaurid, other theropod remains, this time including fossils from Thailand, China, England, Brazil, Tunisia, and Morocco.
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Smaller crocodilian teeth are also present, with two distinct morphotypes: an ovoid form bearing ridges, which has been referred to two different species of Bernissartia; and a compressed, triangular form bearing heavy ornamentation, which has been attributed to the Atoposauridae. However, given the uniform small size of these teeth, and the co-occurrence of these morphotypes in some crocodilians, they may belong to the same species. Skeleton of the co-existing nodosaurid Animantarx Larger Eolambia would have been vulnerable to the large neovenatorid theropod Siats, which was discovered by expeditions from the FMNH. A variety of smaller maniraptoran theropods are also present in the Mussentuchit, which would have functioned as scavengers; their remains include teeth attributed to the Dromaeosauridae, Paronychodon, and Richardoestesia.
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The women of Wongo, finding out about this, risk their lives to protect the prince, and in doing so offend the crocodile god of the Wongo people (portrayed by stock footage of a crocodilian and a rubber model). The women are rounded up by the village men and are sent out into the wilderness until the reptile god has drawn blood for the insult. The women band together, watching each other's backs until the ape men arrive at their village and, after they dispatch the invaders to the god, leave in search for the men that had abandoned the island of Wongo. In Goona, the men have just begun their rite of manhood, in which they go into the jungle, without weapons, for a month.
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Skeleton of a juvenile in Maryland In what is now Maryland, Astrodon shared its paleoenvironment with dinosaurs such as coelurosaurians, the ankylosaurian Priconodon crassus, the nodosaurid Propanoplosaurus marylandicus, a possible basal ceratopsian, and potentially the ornithopod Tenontosaurus. The fossil evidence points to the presence of the poorly known theropods Dryptosaurus medius, Capitalsaurus potens and Coelurus gracilis, and the well known large theropod Acrocanthosaurus atokensis, which likely were the apex predators in this region. Other vertebrates are not as well known from the formation, but include freshwater sharks, lungfish, at least three genera of turtles including Glyptops caelatus and the crocodilian Goniopholis affinis. Evidence has shown that the multituberculate early mammal Argillomys marylandensis was also present.R. L. Cifelli, C. L. Gordon, and T. R. Lipka. 2013.
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Chance the Snapper was under the watch of Chicago Herpetological Society's "Alligator Bob", who on July 14 stated that the creature was "getting comfortable" in the lagoon and had continued to move further into the water, as well as resisting food, perhaps indicating that he had found a steady food supply. On Sunday, July 14 the city hired Frank Robb, an "alligator trapping agent" and owner of Crocodilian Specialist Services in St. Augustine, Florida, to catch the gator after he was recommended by local experts there. At Robb's suggestion, a large part of the park was closed off, to keep people away from the gator in hopes that it would feel less of a need to hide. Chance the Snapper was caught by Robb early Tuesday morning, July 16, 2019.
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Thecodonts are characterized by certain shared primitive features, such as the antorbital fenestra (an opening on each side of the skull between the eye sockets and the nostrils) and teeth in sockets. The name thecodont is Greek for "socket-tooth", referring to the fact that thecodont teeth were set in sockets in the jawbones; an archosaurian characteristic that was inherited by the dinosaurs. While the taxon Thecodontia is obsolete, the term thecodont remains in use as an anatomical description of teeth in bony sockets; in addition to species formerly in this group (such as crocodiles and dinosaurs), mammals also possess thecodont dentition, which evolved independently. They constitute an evolutionary grade of animals, a "wastebasket taxon" for any archosaur other than a crocodilian, a pterosaur, or a dinosaur (any basal archosaur).
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Tadzhikosuchus is an extinct genus of alligatoroid crocodilian from the Late Cretaceous of Tajikistan. To date it is mostly known from partial dentaries that show it to have been very similar to Diplocynodon. The two are differentiated by subtle differences in tooth position and tooth socket shape, and by differences in stratigraphy (Diplocynodon is known from the Paleogene and Neogene, making it younger). Three species have been named: the type species T. macrodentis, described by Efimov in 1982 from the lower Santonian- age Upper Cretaceous Ialovachsk Formation of Kansai, Tajikistan, in the Fergana Basin of Tajikistan; T. neutralis from the same location, by Efimov in 1988; and T. kizylkumensis from Turonian-age rocks of the Upper Cretaceous Bissekty Formation of Dzharakhuduk, Uzbekistan, by Nesov and colleagues in 1989.
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The threatened gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) is a large fish-eating crocodilian that is harmless to humans The main sections of the Ganges River are home to the gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) and mugger crocodile (Crocodylus palustris), and the delta is home to the saltwater crocodile (C. porosus). Among the numerous aquatic and semi- aquatic turtles in the Ganges basin are the northern river terrapin (Batagur baska; only in the lowermost section of the basin), three-striped roofed turtle (B. dhongoka), red-crowned roofed turtle (B. kachuga), black pond turtle (Geoclemys hamiltonii), Brahminy river turtle (Hardella thurjii), Indian black turtle (Melanochelys trijuga), Indian eyed turtle (Morenia petersi), brown roofed turtle (Pangshura smithii), Indian roofed turtle (Pangshura tecta), Indian tent turtle (Pangshura tentoria), Indian flapshell turtle (Lissemys punctata), Indian narrow-headed softshell turtle (Chitra indica), Indian softshell turtle (Nilssonia gangetica), Indian peacock softshell turtle (N.
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Roaring Rapids travels through the rivers flowing from the Roaring Mountain or Apu Taku in the native tongue of the local Arbori tribe. According to legend, the endless flow of waters from the mountain is the domain of the Guardian of the Water, a giant crocodilian beast named Q’aráq (), a beast that the League of Adventurers is interested in learning more about. Guests begin by boarding rafts and set off upriver to Field Camp Beta. However, a fallen tree blocks the way and diverts the current in another direction, into the mountain. The ride has guests pass by a massive Audio- Animatronic of Q’aráq, who snaps at the guests as they travel through his subterranean lair. After escaping Q’aráq, the rafts enter a whirlpool, then past simulated volcanic vents and steaming geysers as the rapids sweep guests to the end of the ride.
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H. willetti is known from a single holotype specimen, BMNHB 001876 from the Wealden Group of the Isle of Wight that includes a well-preserved nearly complete skull. It was collected by Edgar W. Willett at Cuckfield, West Sussex, from the Valanginian-aged Grinstead Clay Member, of the Hastings Group, Wealden Supergroup. Willett showed the specimen to the Geological Society of London in or around 1877 or 1878, and it was then Hulke (1878) described it as a specimen of Goniopholis crassidens, an identification derived from a similar tooth form. The specimen was considered lost among the crocodyliform research community but was actually safely accessioned at the Booth Museum in Brighton. It was identified as "the long-lost crocodilian of Mr Willett" by Steve (1998), "Willett’s specimen" by Salisbury et al. (1999) and "Hulke’s specimen" by Andrande et al. (2011).
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Most witnessed acts of predation on marine animals have occurred in coastal waters or within sight of land, with female sea turtles and their babies caught during mating season when the turtles are closer to shore and bull sharks being the only largish shark with a strong propensity to patrol brackish and fresh waters. However, there is evidence that saltwater crocodiles do hunt while out in the open seas, based upon the remains of pelagic fishes that dwell only miles away from land being found in their stomachs. The hunting methods utilised by saltwater crocodiles are indistinct from any other crocodilian, with the hunting crocodile submerging and quietly swimming over to the prey before pouncing upwards striking suddenly. Unlike some other crocodilians, such as American alligators and even Nile crocodiles, they are not known to have hunted on dry land.
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Unlike other "man-eating" crocodiles, such as the saltwater crocodile, the Nile crocodile lives in proximity to human populations, so contact is more frequent. Although most attacks are not reported, the Nile crocodile is estimated to kill hundreds (possibly thousands) of people each year, which is more than all other crocodilian species combined.Wood, The Guinness Book of Animal Facts and Feats. Sterling Pub Co Inc (1983), One study posited the number of attacks by Nile crocodiles per year as 275 to 745, of which 63% are fatal, as opposed to an estimated 30 attacks per year by saltwater crocodiles, of which 50% are fatal. In both species, the mean size of crocodiles involved in nonfatal attacks was about 3 m (9.8 ft) as opposed to a reported range of 2.5–5 m (8.2–16 ft) or larger for crocodiles responsible for fatal attacks.
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They are: the type specimen DFMMh/FV 200, the partial skeleton of an adult with a skull; DFMMh/FV 605, the complete skull of a juvenile; DFMMh/FV 261, an isolated angular; DFMMh/FV 790.12, an isolated left dentary; DFMMh/FV 279, an isolated femur; DFMMh/FV 790.11, an isolated metatarsal; and DFMMh/FV 325, a partial skeleton including osteoderms, vertebrae, and ribs. Stereomicroscopy was used to examine the specimens, which were described in a 2017 paper published by Daniela Schwarz, Maik Raddatz, and Oliver Wings. The genus name Knoetschkesuchus combines the family name of Nils Knötschke, a researcher at the DFMMh who was responsible for the collection, curation, and preparation of Langenberg Quarry specimens, with the common crocodilian suffix suchus, from the Greek souchos ("crocodile"). Meanwhile, the species name langenbergensis is in reference to the provenance of this species from the Langenberg Quarry.
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The Orinoco crocodile ranks among the largest living reptiles, as well as the largest predator in the Americas. It is arguably the largest crocodilian in the Americas, while American crocodiles and black caimans may approach similar dimensions, on average the Orinoco crocodile may be (or had been, when in healthy numbers) slightly longer. Given its possible maximum sizes, the Orinoco crocodile may rank as the third largest extant true crocodile after the saltwater crocodile and Nile crocodile (which is closely related to the Orinoco despite its substantially different range) and rank 4th amongst all extant crocodilians behind additionally the gharial, though there is little to suggest that Orinoco specimens in modern times can rival these largest species. Sexual maturity for Orinoco crocodiles is obtained for females at around while that of males seems to be obtained around length, with most adult crocodiles of the species exceeding .
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Makeshift barrier in Uganda to lessen the risk of crocodile attacks Much of the hunting of and general animosity toward Nile crocodiles stems from their reputation as a man-eater, which is not entirely unjustified. Despite most attacks going unreported, the Nile crocodile along with the saltwater crocodile is estimated to kill hundreds (possibly thousands) of people each year, which is more than all other crocodilian species combined.. While these species are much more aggressive toward people than other living crocodilians (as is statistically supported by estimated numbers of crocodile attacks), Nile crocodiles are not particularly more likely to behave aggressively to humans or regard humans as potential prey than saltwater crocodiles. However, unlike other "man-eating" crocodile species, including the saltwater crocodile, the Nile crocodile lives in close proximity to human populations through most of its range, so contact is more frequent. This combined with the species’ large size renders a higher risk of attack.
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Crocodiles were rather abundant in Appalachia with nine local crocodilian genera belonging to several confirmed families, with the possibility of much more undiscovered crocodiles waiting to be unearthed. Goniopholididae is represented by Woodbinesuchus, Alligatoridae is represented by Bottosaurus, Neosuchia is represented by Scolomastax and Deltasuchus, Alligatoroidea are presented Deinosuchus and Leidyosuchus, Gavialoidea are represented by Thoracosaurus, Eothoracosaurus, and Crocodilia is presented by Borealosuchus, are well established in Laramidia as well, probably indicative of their ocean crossing capacities. Deinosuchus, being one of the largest crocodilians of the fossil record, was an apex predator that did prey on the dinosaurs in the area, the same case applies for Laramidia as well, despite the fact that the majority of its diet consisted of turtles and sea turtles. However, crocodiles still preyed on the endemic dinosaurs whenever they got the chance to do so; there is evidence of crocodile bite marks on the femur of large ornithomimosaur that indicates the predatory behavior of native crocodiles.
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A total of 92 species have been recorded to date in Bladen Nature Reserve: 24 amphibians, 1 crocodilian, 6 freshwater turtles, 21 lizards and 40 snakes. These include ubiquitous generalists (such as Bufo valliceps and Dendropsophus microcephala, along with species with ranges restricted to the mid-to upper elevations of the Maya Mountains within their range in Belize – species such as Morelets tree-frog (Agalychnis moreletti), Rana juliani, Smilisca cyanosticta and most of the eleutherodactylids. Through analysis of the known and predicted ranges of Belize's herpetofauna, and of their habitat requirements, it can be estimated that the total number of species likely to occur within Bladen Nature Reserve is between 108 and 114 species (with a maximum possibly as high as 124). Ten species are considered to be of international concern (IUCN Red List), and of the additional 22-32 species that are likely to occur in the protected area (but which have not yet been recorded there), a further four are considered to be of international concern (IUCN Red List) – the endangered Sanderson's rainfrog (Eleutherodactylus sandersoni), and the near threatened Doflein's salamander (Bolitoglossa dofleini), broadhead rainfrog (Craugastor laticeps), and blue- spotted Mexican tree frog (Smilisca cyanosticta).
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