Meet the Carolina Butcher, a 9-Foot Crocodile That Walked On Two Legs 45
HughPickens.com writes Science News reports on the Carolina Butcher, a giant, bipedal reptile that looked a lot like living crocodiles — except it walked on two legs, not four. Carnufex carolinensis is one of the oldest and largest crocodile ancestors identified to date. Its size and stature also suggest that for a time, the Carolina Butcher (named for its menacing features), was one of the top predators in the part of the supercontinent Pangaea that became North America. Past fossil finds show that cousins of ancient crocodiles were vying with the earliest bipedal dinosaurs, called theropods, for the title of top predator in the southern regions of Pangaea but the Carolina Butcher's reign probably ended 201 million years ago when a mass extinction event wiped out most large, land-based predators, clearing the way for dinosaurs to fully dominate during the Jurassic period. Carnufex is one of the most primitive members of the broad category of reptiles called crocodylomorphs, encompassing the various forms of crocs that have appeared 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," says Lindsay Zanno. "Carnufex predates the group that living crocodiles belong to." Transported back to the Triassic Period, what would a person experience upon encountering this agile, roughly three metre-long, about 1.5 metre-tall beast with a long skull and blade-like teeth? "Abject terror," says Zanno.
Bipedal reptile... (Score:5, Funny)
a giant, bipedal reptile that looked a lot like living crocodiles — except it walked on two legs, not four.
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So...not very much terror?
"abject" means "sunk to or existing in a low state or condition." It does not mean "an extreme amount."
... which is appropriate, given the pelvis design of crocodiles. Humans can run much faster than this bipedal croc ever could. If it had been running on all four legs, it might have been faster, but upright - no way!
Bipedal? (Score:2)
Just curious, what made the researchers think the creature was in fact bipedal. The fact the forelegs are shorter thant the hind legs? There's nothing in the article that tries to justify the assertion except the CG image. The creature could be no more bipedal than a bear or a gorilla that occasionally walks on two legs.
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Actually, it's a guess from a very incomplete skeleton - skull fragments, a few vertebra and a femur. If, and it's an if, the hind legs were longer, other explanations can be found. However, "walked on hind legs" is sexier. no more.
The bipedal crocodile idea isn't new or just based on this one specimen. Here's a reference FTA:
http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/... [bioone.org]
The bipedal stem crocodilian Poposaurus gracilis: inferring function in fossils and innovation in archosaur locomotion. Bull. Peabody Mus. Nat. Hist. 52, 107–126 (2011).
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Looks like a dinosaur!
Jaysus Croist! (Score:2)
what would a person experience upon encountering this agile, roughly three metre-long, about 1.5 metre-tall beast with a long skull and blade-like teeth?
Probably a Monty Python like reaction. And soiled underware.
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http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net... [nocookie.net]
Re: Bipedal reptile... (Score:2)
Haha I was thinking of the morrowind lizard-thing daedrics when I read this.
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Same reason that he hid every last radioactive isotopes that has a half life of less than 80 million years which is not not continually produced by natural processes but left around every last isotope with a half life of greater than 700 million years.
I reject Satan and all of his works!
Distant Origin (Score:1)
http://en.memory-alpha.org/wik... [memory-alpha.org]
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Dinosaurs on a Spaceship [wikia.com]
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Naah... Red Dwarf was the first.
Kryten decides to use the time wand to restore Pete to life (a bird), however it goes badly wrong as Kryten accidentally reverses the sparrow's evolution and turns it into a massive Tyrannosaurus.
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Now they can ride ATVs (Score:2)
Calzado: Crocodiles on a three wheeler?
Archer: Right, how scary would that be?
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Seriously... (Score:5, Funny)
Thank you, giant asteroid.
Seek them in space (Score:2)
Sidetrack! (Score:2)
Grrrrrrllllssssssssth
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Stuff that matters to nobody else.
Oh, I dunno; a number of fiction writers are probably going to use it as a model for some characters, and then having fun pointing out that they're a realistic interpretation of something that has in fact lived on Earth. A conventional alternate-universe plot would put their intelligent descendants in contact with us weird primates, who never developed on their world because their ancestors ate all the primates.
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No. It'll be another reality show "Carolina Butcher Hunter", probably on TLC or Discovery Science. If it would be on SyFy then it'll be crap.
Sleestak! (Score:2)
Grrrrrrrrnnnnllllssssssth!
So, its a Gorn? (Score:2)
Just need some lasers to mount on its head...
It's a Yilanè! (Score:2)
I hope people around here... (Score:2)
...don't hear about this. They will immediately connect it to this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L... [wikipedia.org]
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Mod up please +1 as informative.
Imagination, Gotta Love It (Score:3)
Obviously essential for paleontologists!
A half dozen or so pieces of fossilized bone. One of which is part of a femur. NONE of which are hips, legs, feet, brain case, etc. With what they have, they might as well have pictured our long-snouted proto-croc riding a Harley!
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A half dozen or so pieces of fossilized bone. One of which is part of a femur. NONE of which are hips, legs, feet, brain case, etc. With what they have, they might as well have pictured our long-snouted proto-croc riding a Harley!
RTFA. One of the comments in the article points out that "skull and spine morphology is highly diagnostic of locomotor adaptations."
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Well I for one... (Score:2)
...came here looking for "overlords" posts, and left disappointed.