Scary Triassic Croc-Morph

Maxx · Mar 20, 2015

The Triassic was a tough time.

https://news.ncsu.edu/2015/03/zanno-carnufex/

Introversion · Mar 20, 2015

I want to see "Peter Pan" re-done with that cheery fellow relentlessly pursuing Captain Hook...

Alessandra Kelley · Mar 20, 2015

Huh. I thought ancestral crocodilians were feathered?

Maggie Maxwell · Mar 20, 2015

*checks county map for NC**compares her county to Chatham**hoists shovel over her shoulder* If y'all'll excuse me, I've a backyard to start an archaeological dig in.

Jacob_Wallace · Mar 25, 2015

Damn nature, you scary!

jjdebenedictis · Mar 25, 2015

It's amazing how something as simple as "it walks on its hind legs" can take an crocodile from "this is a dangerous animal" to "this is nightmare-fodder" in my mind.

Hoplite · Mar 25, 2015

TAMaxwell said:
*checks county map for NC**compares her county to Chatham**hoists shovel over her shoulder* If y'all'll excuse me, I've a backyard to start an archaeological dig in.

I've been tempted to go out dinosaur-fossil hunting before (we're the stegosaurus capital of the world), but mineral rights being what they are in Colorado, people typically don't own the very soil there house is built on.

jjdebenedictis said:
It's amazing how something as simple as "it walks on its hind legs" can take an crocodile from "this is a dangerous animal" to "this is nightmare-fodder" in my mind.

Ditto.

Reading it was a 9' croc: "that doesn't sound so bad"
...that walked on hind-legs: "oh sh*t"

Maxx · Mar 26, 2015

jjdebenedictis said:
It's amazing how something as simple as "it walks on its hind legs" can take an crocodile from "this is a dangerous animal" to "this is nightmare-fodder" in my mind.

Six-foot salamanders from the same period don't seem nearly as fearsome.

Alessandra Kelley · Mar 26, 2015

Maxx said:
Six-foot salamanders from the same period don't seem nearly as fearsome.

That's because salamanders are cute and damp and -- ohhh my gods, it's got my leg!!

blacbird · Mar 26, 2015

Scary as it is, this dude got nothing on a later, more standardly aquatic croc that grew to be at least 40' long, in the Cretaceous Period. One of the greater mysteries of the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction is why so many major reptilian groups (dinosaurs, pterosaurs, marine mososaurs, plesiosaurs, etc.) died out, but crocodilians did not.

caw

Alessandra Kelley · Mar 27, 2015

blacbird said:
Scary as it is, this dude got nothing on a later, more standardly aquatic croc that grew to be at least 40' long, in the Cretaceous Period. One of the greater mysteries of the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction is why so many major reptilian groups (dinosaurs, pterosaurs, marine mososaurs, plesiosaurs, etc.) died out, but crocodilians did not.

caw

Crocodilians have the ability to go into a state of dormancy called aestivation that allows them to live without eating or drinking during long hot droughts. I don't know how long it can last, but periods of six months have been recorded.

Global ecological catastrophe is likely to clobber critters that need regular meals and clean fresh water to survive. The ability to aestivate would be a huge advantage at such times.

ShaunHorton · Mar 27, 2015

I want one!!

Scary Triassic Croc-Morph

Maxx

Got the hang of it, here

Introversion

Pie aren't squared, pie are round!

Alessandra Kelley

Sophipygian

Maggie Maxwell

Making Einstein cry since 1994

Jacob_Wallace

jjdebenedictis

is watching you via her avatar

Hoplite

Return of the Coffee Shield

Maxx

Got the hang of it, here

Alessandra Kelley

Sophipygian

blacbird

Alessandra Kelley

Sophipygian

ShaunHorton

AW's resident Velociraptor