Word: dinosaurs
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...animals in question were crocodiles, which thrived in the wetlands of the ancient Sahara 100 million years ago. Sereno found his first specimens of these prehistoric monsters about a decade ago, a species called Sarcosuchus, nicknamed SuperCroc: it was some 40 ft. long and weight 8 tons. (See pictures: "Dinosaur-Era Crocodiles Are Discovered in the Sahara...
...mammal should be," says Sereno, "but you have to break down these categories to see what was going on in Africa back then." BoarCroc, for example, was 20 ft. long and had three rows of fangs, like a boar from hell, which made it what Sereno calls a "dinosaur slicer." With its agile legs, he says, "that thing probably came out of the water and charged up the bank to attack dinosaurs." (See pictures: "Where Did the Hobbit Come From...
DogCroc, by contrast - dog-size, with a doglike nose - mostly ate plants and grubs. It could run too, but, Sereno suspects, "it probably ran down the bank to escape from dinosaurs." Bucktoothed RatCroc was also small and ate a similar diet. DuckCroc, about 3 ft. long, had a broad snout for rooting in shallow water and onshore, ducklike, for fish and frogs. And PancakeCroc was named for its wide, flat head, which it kept low, jaws open, waiting for an unsuspecting dinosaur to step into the mouth. "Modern crocs can take prey three times their size, if necessary," says Sereno...
...Graceful mantas can be spotted by their white undersides as they turn backflips under the surface. But there is nothing, of course, to beat seeing a whale shark. These leviathans evolved more than 60 million years ago, and swimming with one is the marine equivalent of walking with a dinosaur. See visitmozambique.net for more...
...American and Chinese scientists - plus a Massachusetts ophthalmologist - have just announced the discovery of a 125 million-year-old animal that had the same distinctive build as T. rex, but at only about 1/100 the weight. "It's all there," says Sereno, "including the dinky arms." But the new dinosaur, named Raptorex kriegsteini and described in the online journal Science Express, would have been a bit taller and about as heavy as an adult human. Says Brusatte: "It really throws a wrench into the story...