Monday, December 9, 2024
Contact    |    RSS icon Twitter icon Facebook icon  
Unexplained Mysteries
You are viewing: Home > News > Palaeontology > News story
Welcome Guest ( Login or Register )  
All ▾
Search Submit

Palaeontology

Huge crocodiles once ran around on two legs

By T.K. Randall
June 14, 2020 · Comment icon 10 comments

These are some strange looking crocodiles. Image Credit: Anthony Romilio
Palaeontologists have discovered a prehistoric species of crocodile that walked on two legs instead of four.
Dating back 120 million years to the Cretaceous period, this unusual crocodilian was identified thanks to fossil footprints found at the Sacheon Jahye-ri tracksite in South Korea.

Scientists were drawn to the fact that some of the prints appeared to have been left by the hind feet of a crocodile-like creature, yet there were no corresponding forelimb prints or signs of a dragging tail.

Instead, this unusual species - which has been named Batrachopus grandis - must have walked on just its hind legs while balancing its forelimbs and tail in the air as it went along.

It's a mode of walking typically seen in theropod dinosaurs rather than in crocodilians.
"Typical crocodiles walk in a squat stance and create trackways that are wide," said lead study author Kyung Soo Kim from the Chinju National University of Education.

"Oddly, our trackways are very narrow looking - more like a crocodile balancing on a tight-rope. When combined with the lack of any tail-drag marks, it became clear that these creatures were moving bipedally."

"They were moving in the same way as many dinosaurs, but the footprints were not made by dinosaurs. Dinosaurs and their bird descendants walk on their toes."

"Crocodiles walk on the flat of their feet leaving clear heel impressions, like humans do."

Source: Gizmodo | Comments (10)




Other news and articles
Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #1 Posted by Myles 5 years ago
Comment icon #2 Posted by acute 5 years ago
Cue @Piney with his Queen Lizard pic:  
Comment icon #3 Posted by Piney 5 years ago
 
Comment icon #4 Posted by acute 5 years ago
Ooh, that's a different one!
Comment icon #5 Posted by Piney 5 years ago
I have quite a collection! 
Comment icon #6 Posted by JKoene 5 years ago
Voth, Arkonian, Cardassian or just Gorn?
Comment icon #7 Posted by I'mConvinced 5 years ago
Huge crocodiles running around on two legs? Come off it! What ever next? Vestigial leg bones in sperm whales showing that they once walked on land? Hahaha as if...
Comment icon #8 Posted by I'mConvinced 5 years ago
Is that Queen ELizardbeth II? 
Comment icon #9 Posted by woopypooky 5 years ago
if u think of it, modern day crocodiles are actually flattened T-Rex
Comment icon #10 Posted by Cookie Monster 5 years ago
You beat me to a reptilian reply lol.


Please Login or Register to post a comment.


Our new book is out now!
Book cover

The Unexplained Mysteries
Book of Weird News

 AVAILABLE NOW 

Take a walk on the weird side with this compilation of some of the weirdest stories ever to grace the pages of a newspaper.

Click here to learn more

We need your help!
Patreon logo

Support us on Patreon

 BONUS CONTENT 

For less than the cost of a cup of coffee, you can gain access to a wide range of exclusive perks including our popular 'Lost Ghost Stories' series.

Click here to learn more

Recent news and articles