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News Release 10-134
These Crocs Were Made for Chewing?
Newly discovered, ancient crocodile was mammal-like, from its grinding molars to its skinny legs
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See what makes Pakasuchus kapilimai so special in this video feature.
Credit: Amanda Castroverde and Mackenzie Reed, National Science Foundation
Paleontologist Patrick O'Connor of Ohio University describes a newly discovered ancient crocodilian and its revealing place in the fossil record in an NSF webcast from Monday, Aug. 2, 2010.
Credit: National Science Foundation
The ancient crocodile Pakasuchus kapilimai once roamed Tanzania in the Middle Cretaceous. No larger than a housecat, the animal had a number of features unusual for crocodylians, including mammal-like teeth.
Credit: Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation
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Left-lateral view of the skull of Pakasuchus kapilimai within its original red sandstone matrix.
Credit: Patrick M. O'Connor, Ohio University
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Using a medical scanning technology called X-ray computed tomography, the researchers were able to create detailed digital images of the Pakasuchus teeth accurate to 45 micrometers (millionths of a meter). Because the images were digital, they were ideal for animation, enabling the researchers to observe how the teeth fit with one another and estimate how the jaw may have moved.
Credit: Patrick M. O'Connor, Ohio University
A Nile crocodile smiles for the camera in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda.
Credit: Nancy J. Stevens, Ohio University
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This panorama shows one of the research team's field vehicles on site in the Rukwa Rift Basin in Tanzania.
Credit: Patrick M. O'Connor, Ohio University
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Patrick O'Connor and Sifa Ngasala excavate a dinosaur limb bone out of a cliff face on the Mtuka River.
Credit: Eric Roberts, James Cook University
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Patrick O'Connor examines the portion of exposed bone fragments that would ultimately yield the holotype specimen of Pakasuchus kapilimai. Coauthor and project student geologist Zubair Jinnah found the specimen while prospecting.
Credit: J.P. Cavigelli, Tate Museum, Wyoming
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Saidi Kapilima (foreground, and for whom Pakasuchus kapilimai is named) and graduate student Sifa Ngasla (background) take a short break while hand-quarrying for fossils.
Credit: Patrick M. O'Connor, Ohio University
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