Paleontologists just discovered the fossilized remains of the world's largest marine crocodile that was buried under the Sahara desert, measuring twice as big as any modern crocodile seen today.
This ancient crocodile is known as Machimosaurus rex where it is estimated to weigh at least 6,600 pounds, measuring around 32 feet in length. Apart from its massive size, this ancient croc would appear to be a modern crocodile except for its long, narrow snout, that is specially shaped for it to swim faster underwater.
Scientists believe that this fearsome croc ruled the ocean that separated Africa from Europe, some 130 million years ago. According to Federico Fanti from the University of Bologna who is part of the team that made this discovery, this has been an incredibly large crocodile, that is twice the size of the modern day marine crocodile.
Fanti adds that the croc's skull is as big as a whole person, as the skull would be more than five feet long, making this a massive crocodile.
The croc fossils were found in Tunisia, consisting of skeletal remains and bones. This region would have been once a lagoon that faced the ocean, where the croc's habitat would be filled with large fish and turtles, which are the favorite prey of the Machimosaurus rex.
Fanti also adds how this croc was so big and powerful that it is considered to be on top of the ancient food chain and apart from this amazing size, the croc also sheds light to the mass extinction event that occurred during the Jurassic and Cretaceous period some 150 million years ago.
Scientists thought that the Machimosaurus rex died out, but this new discovery suggests that this massive dying out did not affect other animals and ecosystems during that era. Fanti says that the fact that the Machimosaurus rex thrived some 130 to 120 million years ago means that there was no mass extinction.
He says that most thought that this group of crocodiles went extinct during the Jurassic but was found well into the Cretaceous. Paleontologists believe that crocodiles like the Machimosaurus rex just got bigger or smaller during their evolution, where even bigger ones that lived on land have also gone extinct.
The largest freshwater crocodile called the Sarcosuchus imperator measured 40 feet long, some 110 million years ago, weighing 17,500 pounds.
This new study is published in the journal Cretaceous Research.