This ancient crocodile walked on two legs, ruled before dinosaurs

[Lebron23]

[quote]WASHINGTON - The "Carolina butcher" has been found and is just as scary as the name suggests.

Scientists on Thursday said they had unearthed fossils in North Carolina of a big land-dwelling croc that lived about 231 million years ago, walked on its hind legs and was a top land predator right before the first dinosaurs appeared.

Transported back to the Triassic Period, what would a person experience upon encountering this agile, roughly 9-foot-long (about 3-meter-long) 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.

The creature is named Carnufex carolinensis, meaning "Carolina butcher," for its menacing features. It was a very early member of the croc lineage and was unlike today's crocs. It was not aquatic and not a quadruped, instead prowling on two legs in the warm equatorial region that North Carolina was at the time.

It lived alongside armored plant-eating reptiles known as aetosaurs, early mammal relatives and other fierce predators such as the large, long-snouted, water-dwelling, four-legged phytosaurs.

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," Zanno said. "Carnufex predates the group that living crocodiles belong to."

The scientists unearthed portions of Carnufex's skull, spine and forelimb parts from a Chatham County quarry. Then also created a three-dimensional model of the skull, filling in the missing parts with the more complete skulls of close relatives.

Carnufex lived just before the appearance of the first dinosaurs, which started as modest creatures in the Triassic before becoming Earth's dominant land animals. Zanno said Carnufex's discovery underscores the notion that before dinosaurs became well established in North America, such crocs and their cousins filled the large predator roles.

While the dinosaur lineage eventually produced the world's largest terrestrial predators, it was the crocs and their cousins that typically were the Triassic tough guys. A group related to crocs called rauisuchians included large four-legged land predators up to 25 feet (about 8 meters) in length or more.

It was not until these creatures went extinct at the end of the Triassic that dinosaur predators truly took over.

[~primetime~]

that thing would stand no chance against a Ronda Rousey armbar

[John Tesh]

Based on the drawing, it doesn't look like it could stay on its hind legs for more than a few seconds. Looks top heavy.

[Batz]

8/10 would pet.

[Yoda]

"Carolina butcher"

Named must your fear be before banish it you can.

[Smoke117]

I wonder how fast it would be...just think, a crocodile capable of running you down. Carolina Butcher indeed.

[HitandRun Reggie]

Make for a nice pair of boots....

[hateraid]

Bodybuilders would kill to have calves like that

[JEFFERSON MONEY]

Very cute.

Wonder if ya can train it to catch deer or fish.

[iamgine]

Someone put a piano under it

[joe]

The history of the Earth is so interesting. Digging up fossils has got to be an irritating profession, but so crazy rewarding if you were to find some piece of history like this.

[Bandito]

Reminds me of Kobe and how he is the last of his kind.

[magictricked]

Elbows too pointy

[robert de niro]

Someone put a piano under it

[Cone]

fucckk