Ancient Human Ancestors Faced Fearsome Horned Crocodile

Live Science ^ | Feb 23, 2010 | Charles Q. Choi

[decimon]

A newfound horned crocodile may have been the largest predator encountered by our ancestors in Africa, researchers now suggest.

Scientists have even found bones from members of the human lineage bearing tooth marks from this reptile, whose scientific name, Crocodylus anthropophagus, means "man-eating crocodile."

This predator, which lived some 1.84 million years ago, possessed a deep snout that would have made it look more robust than modern crocodiles. It also had prominent triangular horns.

"They would have been visible mostly from the side as projections behind the eye," said researcher Christopher Brochu, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Iowa. "If you looked at them from the front, you would have seen ridges projecting upwards."

A couple of living species of crocodile have similar horns, such as the Cuban and Siamese crocodiles. "Males will use these in mating season to show off," Brochu explained. "While submerged they kind of tip their head forward, showing off the prominence of their horns to females."

[decimon]

Horn of Africa ping.

[Sacajaweau]

History meets present day Florida!!

[glide625]

Inaccurate and insulting.

[verity]

Hope this does not trigger a debate with the evolution vs creation crowd. ;-)

[Tigerized]

"While submerged they kind of tip their head forward, showing off the prominence of their horns to females."

Explains a lot about the late Ted Kennedy, don't it?

[pieceofthepuzzle]

Well, at least they didn’t have to deal with democrats.

[JoeProBono]

[decimon]

Antisemitic crocodile.

[Verbosus]

IBTHTP
(In before the Helen Thomas picture)

[SunkenCiv]

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[Redcitizen]

They were created with horns. ;-)

[Ken H]

I always suspected there was a basis in fact to the one eyed, one horned flying purple people-eater.

[ZULU]

No wonder we have nightmares.

[Lee'sGhost]

Helen Thomas foto posters should be shot on sight. That’s not a joke.