Dinosaurs are not necessarily the scariest monsters of all time. In the United States, fossils of many dinosaurs bear strange tooth marks, indicating that they were eaten by an even more terrible creature.
Monstereatdinosaurwas named Deinosuchus schwimmeri, nicknamed the “terrified crocodile”. If today’s large, 4-5 m long crocodiles are scary enough, this ancient crocodile is indeed the “monster king”: it is up to 10 m long, equivalent to the length of a giant medium-sized tyrant dragon.
With that size and super huge teeth, each tooth as big as a banana, the animal chose the dinosaur itself as its prey. Many fossilized dinosaur skeletons bearing terrifying tooth marks have been found in the Mississippi and Alabama states, where this monster alligator species appeared.
The image recreates the “monster crocodile” with the same size as the tyrannosaur – graphic image by Tyler Stone
Dr. Adam Cossette, who is working at Arkansas State University and the University of Iowa (USA), lead author of the study, said that these crocodiles colonized the Cretaceous swamps and attacked the dinosaurs. Mon men came to the water’s edge to drink.
The animal has a long and wide snout, slightly swollen around the nose – a feature quite different from other crocodiles. It is not clear why they developed this bulging nose. Despite its strange shape, the analysis results show that it is a close ancestor of modern crocodiles.
Some fossil parts were found – photo: Adam Cossette
Not just dinosaurs, most of the things in this giant Deinosuchus schwimmeri’s habitat make its way onto its menu. Paleontologists have also found similar teeth marks on some ancient giant tortoise shells, a mark that is difficult to confuse because there is hardly a creature with such terrible teeth.
It is estimated that the heyday of this monster crocodile was about 75 to 82 million years ago. In addition to Deinosuchus schwimmeri, the genus Deinosuchus has a number of other species, although less terrifying but still dangerous giants, such as Deinosuchus hatchheri and Deinosuchus riograndensis, living in the western United States, stretching from Montana to northern Mexico. This new species occupies the Atlantic coastal plain from New Jersey to Mississippi.
Source: nld.com.vn
