Prehistoric Monster Crocodile Found

F452 writes: "From an AP story in the Minneapolis StarTribune: 'A crocodile longer than a school bus and weighing about 10 tons was the top predator in an African river 110 million years ago, routinely dining on large dinosaurs that came within range of its toothy jaws.' Cool."

Crocodile Hunter!

[Mr.Phil]

How come I see Steve Erwin [discovery.com] jumping around yelling "crikey" and getting his daks in a bunch? Or trying to get enough people to jump on top of it to capture it?

At least his mate Wes better be there.

*chuckle*

Photos

[zpengo]

Why must Slashdot always post the articles without photos? D'oh! Here's one [yimg.com], for those who were wondering.

Re:Photos

[ackthpt]

I thought about posting the article, but thought, "Nah, they'd reject that, it's not controversial or funny enough." I just never seem to get it.

Oh, btw, we already knew these existed, those who saw the 'documentary' called Lake Placid!

Re:Photos

[FortKnox]

• 2001-10-25 09:33:31 Super-Croc Found (articles,science) (rejected)

Your right, they wouldof rejected it, just like mine (this happens sooooo often to me).

Re:Photos

[F452]

I think the key was to use the word "Prehistoric" :-)

Re:Photos

[spudnic]

What is the url of the article that this picture was part of?

Hooboy!

[kypper]

can you imagine the number of shoes I could make with that bugger? KRIKEY!

Crocodile Dundee 0 : The African Trip

[Monsieur_F]

I wonder if these giant crocodiles had giant predators too...

On display anytime soon?

[DahGhostfacedFiddlah]

The article didn't mention how much of the skeleton they had, or whether it would be on display somewhere. I'd love to see this thing.

film rights

[oliphaunt]

Quick before David Lynch thinks of it-- remember the real John Shaft? And remember the second movie, Shaft in Africa? [imdb.com] (for those of you who won't click, the tagline was "the brother man in the motherland.")

Now, I know that Godzilla is from Japan. But isn't this just screaming for a Gozilla vs. Shaft movie?

Come on, think about it. Samuel Jackson as John Shaft, PhD paleontologist, Angelina Jolie as the environmentalist leading the local protest. They discover this huge skeleton, and one night, full moon, romantic tension between the leads, and while the lions sleep...the monster comes to life!

I've already got a deal with Burger King to release commemorative plastic cups.

Longer than a school bus?

[Man of E]

How many rivers are big enough that several things like that could be submerged in at once and still remain hidden? Seems like a rather limited habitat.

Re:Longer than a school bus?

[shpoffo]

yea, well, rivers at one point had a lot more water in them when the climate was radically different - not to mention the sharp decrease in water levels as humans started drastically altering the landscape. I've seen the stream in our vally drop more that 6 inches (30cm) in the last 20 years alone.

-shpoffo

More complete story

[Man of E]

Here's a more complete story about it on National Geographic:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/supercroc/ [nationalgeographic.com]
The page has more photos, information about the paleontologists, and a link to a photo gallery [nationalgeographic.com].

Ignorant question

[Embedded Geek]

OK, the article indicated these critters grew to these lengths in 50 to 60 years.

Does anyone know how long a modern croc takes to reach full growth (say, 12 feet)? For that matter, what about "hyper-giant" animals in general, such as those giant sharks in the paleozoic (or whatever period it was)?

PS - Maybe I should've titled this "does size matter?"