Pierrelatte, France - As long as a tourist bus and with jaws big enough to pick up a cow, "Sarcosuchus imperator" lived 110 million years ago and was surely the biggest, meanest crocodile to ever roam the Earth.

This week its scales-and-blood likeness was unveiled by the man who first identified and named the amphibious predator based on fossil remains found in Niger more than 40 years ago.

Measuring 12m from snout to tail, and weighing in at 10 tons, Sarco - as the beast is known among dinosaur buffs - undoubtedly chomped on big fish and small dinosaurs, dragging them into the tropical rivers that once criss-crossed what is today the Sahara.

The reconstruction of the animal by the French company Ophys required 1,800 hours of work and 750kg of resin.
go

Now, you see, this is why I am pleased some things have become extinct

A beautiful creature, if one to be viewed from a safe distance.

Why were all creatures back then so big? Was it due to less gravity and more oxygen?

Sarcosuchus wasn't the largest crocodile ever, as far as I know there were two or three species that were equal in size or larger, that 18 metre one and all... the name of which escapes me at the moment, but still--

Wasnt it purussaurus,And Rhamphosuchus that were as large if not larger?Deinosuchas probrally wasnt that large but just as mean.

i know about it already,but it weighed 8 tonnes.....................but u r saying 10 tonnes.it had a 6 foot skull.
i saw that episode in national geographic once.....paul sereno discovered it from sahara desert.

The planet was a lot less crowded and food was abundant for them. But, not all animals were big. There were several mammal creatures that were small like rodents.

And also bigger animals usually found it easier to stay alive xD

In the dinosaur age, animals didn't have weapons and crap to defend themselves, and they had be physically strong or fast to stay alive. So that's why dinosaur's where either really big (Diplodicus) or really small (Raptor).

I'm already terrified of the water and its habitants... I cant even go swimming in a lake thanks to Jaws and Lake Placid.. and now, I see this.. oh dear, I wont ever be able to swim in water that I cant see the bottom....

** tears up blueprints for time machine **

how far do you think safe is? 1 mile or 2?


none of the above, back then the all the plants were seroid enchancing drugs, the herbivors ate the plants and became big then the carnivors ate the herbivors and got big due to a healthy meal.

I bet Steve Erwin (RIP) would still have ahd a little wrestle! lol

Your are right, and the closest crocodilian resembling Sarcosuchus today is the Gavial, who despite his huge size is really a wimp. Little kids get on top of them for rides in a film I saw. They basically just eat fish and small animals they can swallow whole. Of course, to Sarco, you would be a "small animal" and I would not recommend trying to ride one. But with its very narrow jaws specialized for catching fish, I am not sure if it would have been a predator of large dinosars, just as the gavial is not a predator of large animals. Howevers, many of the other gaint crocs have broad heads like the modern Nile and Saltwater crocodiles and almost certainly preyed on huge creatures, as as modern crocodiles do.

Deinosuchus > Sarcosuchus