The croc than ran on hooves - The story of Boverisuchus
Do you fear crocodiles and their various relatives? Do you feel safe from crocodile related incidents on dry land? Do you live in Germany? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then its a good thing that you weren’t alive during the Eocene!
This is Boverisuchus (formerly Pristichampus), a crocodylian that lived during the Eocene epoch (specifically the Lutetian stage, between 47.2 and 41.2 mya). Open niches following the K-Pg Extinction event left an opening for large land predators, leaving crocodylians to fill that niche when their usual niche of aquatic predator became saturated with, well, other crocs! Boverisuchus was one such example. It could reach sizes of 3 metres (11 ft), which may seem small compared to say, a saltwater crocodile, but it becomes doubly terrifying when you realise it lived on land. Various adaptations made this possible including a loss of osteoderms (bony armour), longer legs (with the rear legs longer than the front), hoof-like toes, a less finlike tail and more ziphodont teeth (compact, serrated, straight-edged). Similarities in teeth between Boverisuchus and certain theropod dinosaurs originally lead to some scientists believing that a non-avian dinosaur had survived through to the Paleogene.Â
These adaptations would’ve made it more than capable as a land predator, galloping and chasing after its prey - including terrestrial mammals like early horses. Some paleontologists theorise that because of its longer back legs, it may have been capable of running on two legs, because a massive land-croc isn’t scary enough. So why then did this fascinating piece of work go extinct? Climatological changes and global cooling (due to plate tectonics) negatively benefitted reptiles while benefitting mammalian predators, such as the creodonts and the ancestors of carnivorans. Our world now is safer perhaps without scary land-crocs but we may never experience the potential joy of riding a hoofed crocodylian-steed into battle.
I do not own this video, I find reptiles and paleontology fascinating, hence the post. This video was made by PBS Eons, who do some interesting stuff. This is the third in my prehistoric megareptile series, following Megalania and Titanoboa. Like what you see? Stick around for more!
