Posted on 11/19/2009 11:21:14 AM PST by decimon
Paleontologist Paul Sereno and his colleagues unearthed a bizarre bunch of crocodile remains in the Sahara. The crocs sported snouts and other traits that resembled some modern-day animals and inspired nicknames, including SuperCroc (weighed 8 tons), BoarCroc (upper right), PancakeCroc (lower right), RatCroc, DogCroc and DuckCroc. Credit: Photo by Mike Hettwer, courtesy National Geographic.
From a crocodile sporting a boar-like snout to a peculiar pal with buckteeth for digging up grub, an odd-looking bunch of such reptiles dashed and swam across what is now the Sahara Desert some 100 million years ago when dinosaurs ruled.
That's the picture created by remains of three newly identified species of ancient crocs plus fossils from two species previously named.
A team led by Paul Sereno of the University of Chicago unearthed remains of the bizarre crocodiles during a series of expeditions beginning in 2000 in the Sahara.
Examination of the remains provides insights into some of the keys to such crocodiles' success, including the ability to walk upright with legs underneath their body while on land and when in the water taking on fish-like abilities.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Well, maybe in the Fairyland Desert...
Thanks!
...Paleontologist Paul Sereno and his team were scouring the rocks between harsh dunes in northern Niger in 2000 when they stumbled across the graveyard, on the shores of a long-gone lake.
The scientists eventually uncovered 200 burials of two vastly different cultures that span five thousand years—the first time such a site has been found in one place.
...One of the most striking discoveries was what the research team calls the "Stone Age Embrace": A woman, possibly a mother, and two children laid to rest holding hands, arms outstretched toward each other, on a bed of flowers.
Dubbed the "Stone Age Embrace," a woman and presumably her two children, ages 5 and 8, were posed in death some 5,300 years ago in the Sahara (above, a cast of the skeletons).
...A ridge on a male Kiffian thighbone also told bioarchaeologist Chris Stojanowski of Arizona State University that the people—who ranged from six feet two inches (185 centimeters) to six feet eight inches (203 centimeters) tall—had huge leg muscles, likely from a high-protein diet and strenuous lifestyle...
I doubt that what they found was a cemetery. The people perished...
...also discovered on the shore of an ancient lakebed in the Sahara...
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