Scientists have unearthed fossils in North Carolina of a large land-dwelling crocodile that lived about 231 million years ago, walked on its hind legs and was the top land predator before dinosaurs even appeared. Dubbed the "Carolina butcher," this apex predator of ancient times is just as scary as the name suggests.
What would a human experience if transported back to the Triassic Period for an encounter with this tall, menacing beast with a long skull and blade-like teeth? "Abject terror," said North Carolina State University paleontologist Lindsay Zanno, who led the research published in the journal Scientific Reports. "Climb up the nearest tree," advised North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences paleontologist Vince Schneider.
This ancient ancestor of crocodiles has been named Carnufex carolinensis, meaning "Carolina butcher," for its menacing features. The beast differed from its modern crocodile lineage in several respects, however, as it was not aquatic preferring instead to hunt on land using only two legs instead of four.
During its time here on Earth, the ancient crocodile walked among other plant-eating reptiles of the time such as the plated aetosaurs, mammal relatives and other fierce predators such as long-snouted, water-dwelling, phytosaurs.
Carnufex is one of the most primitive members of the broad category of reptiles called crocodylomorphs, a group including all the various forms of crocs that have appeared here on Earth.
"As one of the earliest and oldest crocodylomorphs, Carnufex was a far cry from living crocodiles. It was an agile, terrestrial predator that hunted on land," Zanno said. "Carnufex predates the group that living crocodiles belong to."
Scientists discovered the fossils that included parts of the skull, spine and forelimb from a rock quarry in Chatham County. Using the fossils they discovered, Scientists created a three dimensional model of the skull filling in the missing pieces by using skulls of its close relatives.
Carnufex lived just before the appearance of the first dinosaurs, which began as relatively modest creatures before rising to dominate the Earth. According to Zanno, crocs such as Carnufex filled the role of large predators before the rise of the dinosaurs.
While the dinosaurs eventually eclipses the croc families by producing the largest animals including the world's largest predators, the crocs and many from their family were the tough guys on the block during the Triassic Period. For example, another group related to crocs called rauisuchians included large four-egged land predators measuring up to 8 meters in length.
The line of crocs has proven to be resilient over the millions of years as they still rule their domains as a top predator even if they don't walk on two legs and tower above us like the Carolina butcher.
