Biggest predator in the age of mammals, still an archosaur Interesting how the time before and after dinosaurs, crocodilians always seem to rise up to the plates
The biggest predator is either the Sperm Whale or the Blue Whale, depending on whether you count baleen whales as predators. Either way, the largest predator is a mammal. If you count baleen whales as predators then the largest predator to ever live is a mammal. If you mean largest "terrestrial" predator then I feel like it is debatable whether you consider modern crocodillians to be "terrestrial". They certainly are not distinctly terrestrial compared to the animals in the video, and the largest species of modern crocodiles (Salties) also happen to be the least terrestrial, essentially only hanging out on land to bask. Which means the largest terrestrial predator is also a mammal, the polar bear.
@@patreekotime4578 There were Ichthyosaurs that were as big as sperm whales. So baleen whales as predators are the largest in the ocean today as far as a single animal goes, as there are colony animals that out length even blue whales. I also find it hard to believe that there wasn't a marine reptile that approached Blue whale status when we have Sauropods that where longer and heavier than even sperm whales are, and they were on land. But until we find evidence, Blue holds its title. One point for mammals. In regards to terrestrial predators of today, no one is arguing that the title of largest isn't going to bears. But the comment at the top is referring to the age we currently are a part of. In which yes, these crocodilians are indeed larger than any of the mammalian predators that have come to be. They have equal or heavier weights than even the Short faced bears, and are far longer. Saying the title of Largest terrestrial predator of the age of mammals goes to mammals is just false. Barinasuchus has an estimated size of 20-25ft. And weight of 1,610 and 1,720 kg. And the video is saying that Dentaneosuchus is tied at that size estimate. So we have not one, but two large crocodilians that on average are larger than the largest mammalian carnivores in the Cenozoic.
This video gives me the same thrill that WWB gave me when I learnt mammals didn't take over immediately. I wish we had another WWB to include all these overlooked non-mammals.
This is the type of paleo video I prefer on CZcams. No unnecessary hype or performative theatrics in the presentation, just lots of images of known material and well-supported interpretation of that material. You have a great day as well.
@@jimgillert20 yeah, the rise of mammals was a very outdrawn process; quarter of a billion years in the making. The cynodonts are the only surviving synapsids, the last of its kind.
Considering the exstensive musculature and sheer power and speed of modern crocodiles one can Imagine that these big burly creatures being quite terrifying ambushers.
It's kind of scary to think that, had things been just a tiny bit different, a second lot of archosaurs could have been strutting about today's landscape whilst 'we' (quote marks because humans wouldn't have evolved) would still be skulking about in the undergrowth!
How could you possibly make that conclude that humans would not have evolved from because of the existence of archosaurs? Mammals were running around during this era and ended up dominating. Neat fantasy. SURE, it could be possible, but that is an insane thing to assume based purely on the existence of archosaurs...
Early man would have ruled any era in history. Unless your saying we would have been snuffed out sometime before we split off from the great apes…. Like pre missing link… if your talking early homo sapien, not a freaking chance. And yeah…. I’m saying we would have kicked the shit out of everything in any time… even the dinosaurs.
For some reason, I thought that the Dentaneosuchus in the thumbnail has tusks, until I realized that only mammals and a few of their ancient ancestral lineages can have tusks due to their specialized teeth. When in reality, it's the legs of a very unlucky bird being a snack for the subject of this video.
A different crocodylomorph, the "BoarCroc" Kaprosuchus, actually did have tusk-like teeth, although they were not as long as the bird legs. Many other crocodylomorphs also had complex, specialized teeth on par with those of mammals.
It’s worth noting that in North America and Asia, large predatory mammals were already a thing by this point (and earlier during the Paleocene as well)-living alongside the planocraniid land crocs. For some reason, Europe didn’t get large mammals until well into the Eocene, even though such animals actually preceded the gastornithids and various terrestrial crocs on other northern continents.
This seems overly simplistic, Europe had quite a few inmigrated large herbivores in the Latest Paleocene and Earliest Eocene such as Coryphodon and Pachyaena. Its only after the clossure of the North Atlantic bridge that European mammal faunas became more endemic and generally smaller in body size.
First Barinasuchus as the biggest land carnivore in South America and now there’s another terrestrial crocodile in Europe, I actually like it. I wonder if there is another species lived in Eastern Asia.
The thing that really interests me is that you'd think crocodilians would be the only crocodylomorphs left after the KPG extinction, but in fact notosuchians survived for a good while after. I'm upset that they died before modern humans could observe and record them..
There was even a third major group of Mesozoic survivors called the dyrosaurids, who were mostly marine and had long legs for as of yet unknown reasons. Additionally, many fossils of other Cenozoic semi-aquatic crocodylomorphs previously assigned to Crocodilia appear to belong to more distantly related neosuchians. Still, none of them were as expectational as the sebecids.
Very nice and it keeps illustrating the fact that suchians, especially terrestrial variants can obtain large sizes whenever they do get the chance. Besides that this new sebecid has granted me further insight on a project that includes these remarkable animals.
The Cenozoic is almost like running the Permian in reverse: it started with a mass-extinction event, and very warm and the synapsids & arcosaurs co-dominated at the beginning, and then the climate cools into an ice age, while the arcosaurs progressively disappears...
@@stefanostokatlidis4861 I guess you could say Paleocene and by extension, Eocene is the closest thing to Carboniferous, where there's not much large animals and it's rainforest everywhere
Based on the paleoart alone you can tell that the Sebecids have captured the imagination of thousands. I would've loved to see one of these guys in action.
With land crocs, I can't help but wonder what kind of lifestyle they lived. Ambush predator seems most likely for ectotherms, but doesn't the plantigrade structure of the feet suggest more scavenging and endurance hunting? Whatever the case, I don't think I will ever get tired of seeing more land crocs!
Yeah, being big burly crocdilian quadrupeds I can imagine these things being fearsome grapplers. They would have a much lower centre of gravity, and much greater ground friction(the ability to maintain purchase on one's feet) than a bipedal therapod of equal weight. This extra ground friction would also aid when engaging the muscles of the body in an attack. Its not hard to imagine it grabbing a comparatively sized prey item, planting its feet and towing the prey item backwards, engaging it's whole body to shake all the while crushing and cutting the absolute *expletive* out of whatever part of the unfortunate creature it's gotten a hold of. Now that I think about it, it's kinda exactly like what postisuchus from Walking with Dinosaurs was doing to the placerias. Dammit, it would have made the ultimate bookend to Walking with dinosaurs now that I think about it!
From the Cretaceous Baurusuchids, to early Paleogene Eusuchians like _Boverisuchus_ , to giant Paleogene Sebecids like _Dentaneosuchus_ and _Barinasuchus_ , and even the recent Australian Mekosuchines like _Quinkana_ , it seems like giant "land crocs" just keep evolving, even long after their Triassic heyday. That's why I'm almost certain they'll be back one day, as long as crocodilians still live. They will always be back to challenge the ruling animals of their day.
Are you going to think of a suggestion making a CZcams Videos all about Geosaurus, an Extinct Prehistoric Marine Crocodilian on the Next Chimerasuchus Next Saturday coming up next?!👍👍👍👍👍⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Phytosaurus and the larger clade Phytosauria are serious contenders for the title. Phytosaurus means "plant reptile" since mud casings were initially mistaken for it teeth, but phytosaurs were universally carnivorous.
Postosuchus itself actually turned out to be bipedal, but close relatives like Prestosuchus and Batrachotomus were quadrupeds much like Dentaneosuchus.
@@chimerasuchusso would you consider it convergant evolution that dentaneosuchus appeared so similar to Triassic archosaurs like the ones mentioned or a direct relative?
@@mr.malachite3027 It is kind of both. Dentaneosuchus and all other crocodylomorphs were descended from those large carnivores, but their ancestors at the start of the Jurassic were small creatures. The ancestors of the notosuchians never transitioned to a semi-aquatic lifestyle, so when they once again rose to the top of the food chain, they ended up looking much like their distant ancestors.
@@chimerasuchus I find that so cool tbh, considering that their species lived so long, even if for a while they were tiny, a ~185million year long existence is truly impressive
Do you have any reccomended literature on paleo Pseudosuchians, other than primary research papers? My research focus is on ancient fungi of the Mesozoic & their potential relationships- I'm trying to better fill out my understanding of those ecosystems. So far you are honestly the best resource I have found for learning about Pseudosuchia ( which I appreciate)...but I can't seem to find any textbooks dedicated to the subject :/ ( Does the study of crocodiles not have an official subfield name? I know it sits within herpetology) Thank you for your time.
There is no term specially for pseudosuchian paleontology. Pretty much the only crocodilian textbook is "Biology and Evolution of Crocodylians" by Gordon Grigg and David Kirshner. However, despite the title, only a little over thirty pages are devoted to prehistoric pseudosuchians and their ancestors, with the rest being about modern crocodilians. There is also some outdated information, such as Kaprosuchus being given a length well above current estimates, Postosuchus being reconstructed as a quadruped, and Boverisuchus being called "Pristichampsus". "The Rise of Reptiles: 320 Million Years of Evolution" by Hans-Dieter Sues also have a little over thirty pages about Pseudosuchia. Beyond that there are not many books about the subject. The only other one I can think of is "King of the Crocodylians: The Paleobiology of Deinosuchus" by paleontologist David Schwimmer. It is only about a single species and is now over two decades old. The undo obscurity of these fascinating reptiles is the main reason I made this channel.
@@chimerasuchus I very much appreciate all the work you have done, it's completely changed the way I look at crocodilians. Perhaps you should write that book? I can empathize what it's like to study a neglected field. You would do a great job & it is very much needed. Willing to bet the paleo community would crowd fund its publishing, the demand seems to be there.
These animals would have been very formidable. Thankfully they didn't survive to more modern periods of time. Imagining A rhino that looked and acted like a salt water crocodile running aid in land..... scary thought. Thanks for sharing.
Since they didn't really walk on their toes like other long legged animals that are fast, but more like bears and elephants with real feet, I have to wonder what their speed really was. My guess is that their long legs were more for long distance travel and patrolling their territory but not so much running down a horse. They probably just did a little burst of crazy energy to pounce and otherwise moved at 4mph or so.
Well bears and elephants aren’t slow, but they are t quiet either. Meaning Dentaneosuchus was protentially a very loud runner, or more over a stampeder
Titanoboa is estimated to be 14m and over 1,000 kg for comparison Barinusuchus is 1,600kg with some estimates of 2,000kg but if talk about semi aquatic predators not fully aquatic this belongs to purrassuarus, dienosuchus and spinosauras but still titanoboa is the biggest snake of all time even in terms of length titanoboa is rivaled by spinosauras but size is measured in mass not length in fact the modern saltwater crocodile can actually eceed titanoboa in terms of mass of course not length there are skulls of saltwater crocodile which indicate a full length of over 6.8m in length and a weight of 1,500kg -1,700kg some sources claim 2,000kg!!!
Excellent vid once more my friends, thanks very much! I had to laugh at your apt descriptor of the silly conservative estimation of size being presented for this new, lovely beast, as a ludicrously ambulating Bobble-Head. Too true! I agree with your estimation, considering the size of the skull being a meter long, that the animal would be no less than 6 meters long. Anything shorter would require massive neck muscles disproportionate to its considered build structure and would be more in line with say, Erythrosuchus, which nature gave up on back in the Triasssic period. Thanks again. :)
It is a bit complicated. The shift towards ectothermy started before they became semi-aquatic for as of yet unknown reasons, but became more extreme afterwards.
This makes me wonder - just as archosaurs continued to dominate some ecosystems in the 'age of mammals', did any mammals dominate some ecosystems in the age of dinosaurs?
Not to our knowledge. The largest Mesozoic mammal was no larger than a badger. However, the larger clade mammals are a part of, Synapsida, was dominate during the Early Triassic, much as the had been during the end of the Paleozoic. Large synapsids called dicynodonts survived to the end of the period, reaching the size of elephants.
OH MY GOD. I THOUGHT THOSE LEGS IN ITS MOUTH WERE WEIRD TEETH, AND I NEEDED TO FIND OUT WHAT KIND OF CREATURE GREW SUCH THINGS! IT'S EATING SOMETHING! I FEEL SO DUMB XD
The lophiodon weight stated in the video is off by more than 1800kg. The largest specimens of lophiodon weigh around 200-350kg, with everything over 250kg being a very generous estimate.
Do ectotherms usually have a shorter/squatter stance; due to blood flow etc? It's just that this thing seems quite 'tall' in some of the video's estimates?
Notosuchians like Dentaneosuchus had erect limbs similar to those of dinosaurs and mammals. Notosuchia is actually the only group of ectotherms with this limb arrangement, although they were on the higher end of the ectothermic spectrum.
I would say any situation where Europe, Japan, or the US seem to be the oldest example of something that’s not very good proof of the actual situation, only the relative oversampling of those areas.
If the large land crocs were lipless, wouldn’t that give some weight to the lipless dinosaur position? Not evidence of absence at all but it does appear to erode the notion that land animals must have lips in order to protect the teeth. Just a rather uninformed question.
Mammals really became dominant in the large body niches only during the cooler Neogene. A large part of the Cenozoic had or also very large reptiles and birds.
Is it me or is Bill J Unzen the only one to depict these huge terrestrial carnivores with round pupils? HodariNundu too, maybe. Regardless: Dentaneosuchus? Too cool for words.
Wait. If they estimated that it was probably 3-4m long, with a 1m long head, well the 4m estimate would have it more ridiculous than Erythrosuchus head:body proportions (1/5). And as absurd as those things look, imagine the 3m it's actually a walking bobblehead at that point isn't it? I would love to see a depiction.
The allosaurus allosaurus max 12 m namesake and yutyrannus Max 9m we're both in the 9 to 12 m long range an allosaurus could get up to Two Tons varying for age and sex so how are they similar in length to this creature both longer one way heavier as you said this thing could Max at 6m 1.4 tons say Max weight as a yutyrannus just wondering is all
So imagine, we and all animals has developed a skeleton structure from a fish (jaw/mouth, ribs, spine and etc.) now imagine we would developed from a octopus body structure xD (beak, no bones etc.) or just imagine dinosaurs would be still running wild
Natural selection forces animals to optimize for a certain set of environmental conditions, and usually these conditions are relatively stable over many generations. But a sudden change to these conditions - say, for example, a geologically rapid change in the average global temperature - will usually destroy the niches of the majority of individuals and species whose genes/phenotypes had been optimized for the previous conditions, those that would have been considered "strong" or more accurately, fit for reproduction.
Biggest predator in the age of mammals, still an archosaur
Interesting how the time before and after dinosaurs, crocodilians always seem to rise up to the plates
Triassic - Present: Age of Archosaurs
Rise up to the plates? Hunny, he's *filling* his plate.
The biggest predator is either the Sperm Whale or the Blue Whale, depending on whether you count baleen whales as predators. Either way, the largest predator is a mammal. If you count baleen whales as predators then the largest predator to ever live is a mammal.
If you mean largest "terrestrial" predator then I feel like it is debatable whether you consider modern crocodillians to be "terrestrial". They certainly are not distinctly terrestrial compared to the animals in the video, and the largest species of modern crocodiles (Salties) also happen to be the least terrestrial, essentially only hanging out on land to bask. Which means the largest terrestrial predator is also a mammal, the polar bear.
Yeah, crocodiles at max. 1500 kg do not compare to the 45 000 kg of a fully grown male sperm whale. And not even to the orca at 6 000 kg.
@@patreekotime4578 There were Ichthyosaurs that were as big as sperm whales. So baleen whales as predators are the largest in the ocean today as far as a single animal goes, as there are colony animals that out length even blue whales. I also find it hard to believe that there wasn't a marine reptile that approached Blue whale status when we have Sauropods that where longer and heavier than even sperm whales are, and they were on land. But until we find evidence, Blue holds its title. One point for mammals.
In regards to terrestrial predators of today, no one is arguing that the title of largest isn't going to bears. But the comment at the top is referring to the age we currently are a part of. In which yes, these crocodilians are indeed larger than any of the mammalian predators that have come to be. They have equal or heavier weights than even the Short faced bears, and are far longer. Saying the title of Largest terrestrial predator of the age of mammals goes to mammals is just false. Barinasuchus has an estimated size of 20-25ft. And weight of 1,610 and 1,720 kg. And the video is saying that Dentaneosuchus is tied at that size estimate. So we have not one, but two large crocodilians that on average are larger than the largest mammalian carnivores in the Cenozoic.
Walking With Beasts: "This is a world where birds eat horses."
Dentaneosuchus: I missed the part where that's my problem
This video gives me the same thrill that WWB gave me when I learnt mammals didn't take over immediately. I wish we had another WWB to include all these overlooked non-mammals.
Archosaur eats Archosaur:
No mammals were harmed in the making of this Thumbnail.
.
Excellent video, informative and visually appealing.
Funny to think that the largest predator was still a crocodile type of creature and not a mammal.
Throughout the entire age of animals the largest land predator was a crocodile.
Edit- mammals not animals
Mammals use more efficient strategies
Yup, an archosaur. Basically Triassic - Current is the age of Archosaurs
@@loowick4074No, the Permian period didn't have crocodiles.
I'm assuming you're talking about tetrapods, right?
This is the type of paleo video I prefer on CZcams. No unnecessary hype or performative theatrics in the presentation, just lots of images of known material and well-supported interpretation of that material. You have a great day as well.
cool to know that the KT extinction did not hard stop Archosaur dominance. These guys along with phorusrhacids really were the last hurrah
I'd argue Archosaurs still have dominance. The skies have been dominated by them since the Jurassic.
@@posticusmaximus1739No, that would be the insects
Technically, bats are more skilled at flying than birds...
@@TheThrivingTherapsidhow ?
@@a.r.h9919 Better at maneuvering while flying.
At this point I’m questioning when the age of mammals actually started
The age of synapsids is easier, and the end of it too...
Read the rise and reign of mammals. They go back to therapsids and Synaptics. Permian age.
@@jimgillert20 yeah, the rise of mammals was a very outdrawn process; quarter of a billion years in the making. The cynodonts are the only surviving synapsids, the last of its kind.
Last April.
Around late Miocene to Pleistocene
Crocs after KPG: Time to imitate rauisuchids again
Yeah, but then they went extinct, so its still going back to Permian-like conditions
Considering the exstensive musculature and sheer power and speed of modern crocodiles one can Imagine that these big burly creatures being quite terrifying ambushers.
I imagined them sort of like reptilian bears, deceptively slow and chunky then suddenly bursting after you.
In an Europe covered by dense forests...
It's kind of scary to think that, had things been just a tiny bit different, a second lot of archosaurs could have been strutting about today's landscape whilst 'we' (quote marks because humans wouldn't have evolved) would still be skulking about in the undergrowth!
How could you possibly make that conclude that humans would not have evolved from because of the existence of archosaurs? Mammals were running around during this era and ended up dominating. Neat fantasy. SURE, it could be possible, but that is an insane thing to assume based purely on the existence of archosaurs...
Early man would have ruled any era in history. Unless your saying we would have been snuffed out sometime before we split off from the great apes…. Like pre missing link… if your talking early homo sapien, not a freaking chance.
And yeah…. I’m saying we would have kicked the shit out of everything in any time… even the dinosaurs.
@@HomeDefender30ol, how you destroys things, with size of train, without gunpower? And ever steel?
@@black_teratorn4163 with our ability to sweat and throw…. Go do some research.
@@HomeDefender30 do some recearch how people lives with regular crocs, before gunpower
For some reason, I thought that the Dentaneosuchus in the thumbnail has tusks, until I realized that only mammals and a few of their ancient ancestral lineages can have tusks due to their specialized teeth. When in reality, it's the legs of a very unlucky bird being a snack for the subject of this video.
A different crocodylomorph, the "BoarCroc" Kaprosuchus, actually did have tusk-like teeth, although they were not as long as the bird legs. Many other crocodylomorphs also had complex, specialized teeth on par with those of mammals.
It’s worth noting that in North America and Asia, large predatory mammals were already a thing by this point (and earlier during the Paleocene as well)-living alongside the planocraniid land crocs.
For some reason, Europe didn’t get large mammals until well into the Eocene, even though such animals actually preceded the gastornithids and various terrestrial crocs on other northern continents.
This seems overly simplistic, Europe had quite a few inmigrated large herbivores in the Latest Paleocene and Earliest Eocene such as Coryphodon and Pachyaena. Its only after the clossure of the North Atlantic bridge that European mammal faunas became more endemic and generally smaller in body size.
@miwuelescribanoivars5049
Pachyaena was a carnivore.
@@Ektor-yj4pu Yeah, I know, I forgot to include that, my bad.
They're like vintage stuff that gained popularity back after their supposed replacement fell out of favor.
First Barinasuchus as the biggest land carnivore in South America and now there’s another terrestrial crocodile in Europe, I actually like it. I wonder if there is another species lived in Eastern Asia.
The thing that really interests me is that you'd think crocodilians would be the only crocodylomorphs left after the KPG extinction, but in fact notosuchians survived for a good while after. I'm upset that they died before modern humans could observe and record them..
There was even a third major group of Mesozoic survivors called the dyrosaurids, who were mostly marine and had long legs for as of yet unknown reasons. Additionally, many fossils of other Cenozoic semi-aquatic crocodylomorphs previously assigned to Crocodilia appear to belong to more distantly related neosuchians. Still, none of them were as expectational as the sebecids.
@@chimerasuchus Crazy!! I wish they were all still here!!
@@catpoke9557 I do too.
Very nice and it keeps illustrating the fact that suchians, especially terrestrial variants can obtain large sizes whenever they do get the chance. Besides that this new sebecid has granted me further insight on a project that includes these remarkable animals.
Europe finally has its own supercroc!
If you think of it, present day fauna is so damn wierd. Like we have no land crocks for the first time since Permian.
The Cenozoic is almost like running the Permian in reverse: it started with a mass-extinction event, and very warm and the synapsids & arcosaurs co-dominated at the beginning, and then the climate cools into an ice age, while the arcosaurs progressively disappears...
@@TheThrivingTherapsid when are we going to reach the Carboniferous again? The happiest time on earth with no problems.
@@stefanostokatlidis4861 I guess you could say Paleocene and by extension, Eocene is the closest thing to Carboniferous, where there's not much large animals and it's rainforest everywhere
Based on the paleoart alone you can tell that the Sebecids have captured the imagination of thousands. I would've loved to see one of these guys in action.
Great to see a new video from you.
Thanks for creating and sharing another one of these riveting croc docus - made my evening!
Couldn't have hoped for a better birthday gift!
Thanks for this info about new Sebecid species
The head looks exactly like one of a theropod. Or a Triassic archosaur.
A very interesting creature. Thank you, and please thank the Mandalorian for the fine narration.
Fantastic work once again! I'm never disappointed at the sheer thoroughness of the research and the critical eye you put in every time!
With land crocs, I can't help but wonder what kind of lifestyle they lived. Ambush predator seems most likely for ectotherms, but doesn't the plantigrade structure of the feet suggest more scavenging and endurance hunting? Whatever the case, I don't think I will ever get tired of seeing more land crocs!
The plantigrade posture is very common in modern ectotherms.
Yeah, being big burly crocdilian quadrupeds I can imagine these things being fearsome grapplers. They would have a much lower centre of gravity, and much greater ground friction(the ability to maintain purchase on one's feet) than a bipedal therapod of equal weight. This extra ground friction would also aid when engaging the muscles of the body in an attack. Its not hard to imagine it grabbing a comparatively sized prey item, planting its feet and towing the prey item backwards, engaging it's whole body to shake all the while crushing and cutting the absolute *expletive* out of whatever part of the unfortunate creature it's gotten a hold of.
Now that I think about it, it's kinda exactly like what postisuchus from Walking with Dinosaurs was doing to the placerias. Dammit, it would have made the ultimate bookend to Walking with dinosaurs now that I think about it!
From the Cretaceous Baurusuchids, to early Paleogene Eusuchians like _Boverisuchus_ , to giant Paleogene Sebecids like _Dentaneosuchus_ and _Barinasuchus_ , and even the recent Australian Mekosuchines like _Quinkana_ , it seems like giant "land crocs" just keep evolving, even long after their Triassic heyday.
That's why I'm almost certain they'll be back one day, as long as crocodilians still live. They will always be back to challenge the ruling animals of their day.
Dentaneosuchus is just a very awesome, & badass crocodylian
And am glad you made this video, because it's very great.
Hope you have a great day
Thanks for this detailed overview!
Apex land Crocs is something we know will happen in history of life.
That's after climate change
HE HAS HANDS ON HIS MOUTH!! THAT IS SO CUTE!!
Are you going to think of a suggestion making a CZcams Videos all about Geosaurus, an Extinct Prehistoric Marine Crocodilian on the Next Chimerasuchus Next Saturday coming up next?!👍👍👍👍👍⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Possibly the worst named extinct creature. It was a marine crocodilian but Geo means earth/land.
I hope to do a video about Geosaurus in the future, but right now there isn't much detailed paleoart depicting it.
The Phytosaurus and the larger clade Phytosauria are serious contenders for the title. Phytosaurus means "plant reptile" since mud casings were initially mistaken for it teeth, but phytosaurs were universally carnivorous.
Top quality video, once again !
This reminds me a lot of the Triassic archosaur known as Postosuchus
Postosuchus itself actually turned out to be bipedal, but close relatives like Prestosuchus and Batrachotomus were quadrupeds much like Dentaneosuchus.
@@chimerasuchusso would you consider it convergant evolution that dentaneosuchus appeared so similar to Triassic archosaurs like the ones mentioned or a direct relative?
@@mr.malachite3027 It is kind of both. Dentaneosuchus and all other crocodylomorphs were descended from those large carnivores, but their ancestors at the start of the Jurassic were small creatures. The ancestors of the notosuchians never transitioned to a semi-aquatic lifestyle, so when they once again rose to the top of the food chain, they ended up looking much like their distant ancestors.
@@chimerasuchus I find that so cool tbh, considering that their species lived so long, even if for a while they were tiny, a ~185million year long existence is truly impressive
@@mr.malachite3027 Crocodilians are the descendants of those Triassic predators as well, so their legacy is not over yet.
Pretty cool and interesting that most of the predators of Cenozoic is crocodilians.
thanks for sharing these info.
I think it would be cool to raise one like a horse. But feed it cows. Into war, Battlesuchus!
I though that bird’s legs were some sort of tusks lol
can we talk about how archosaurs had the most awesome groups
Another banger tbh
Another great video 😎
Why does every cool looking animals gotta be extinct!!!
Pretty freaking cool! Leaving you a like and comment for the care and feeding of the ever-voracious Almighty Algorithm! 😊
Algosuchus?
Something like that has been seen in the Congo these last three years
Do you have any reccomended literature on paleo Pseudosuchians, other than primary research papers?
My research focus is on ancient fungi of the Mesozoic & their potential relationships- I'm trying to better fill out my understanding of those ecosystems.
So far you are honestly the best resource I have found for learning about Pseudosuchia ( which I appreciate)...but I can't seem to find any textbooks dedicated to the subject :/
( Does the study of crocodiles not have an official subfield name? I know it sits within herpetology)
Thank you for your time.
There is no term specially for pseudosuchian paleontology.
Pretty much the only crocodilian textbook is "Biology and Evolution of Crocodylians" by Gordon Grigg and David Kirshner. However, despite the title, only a little over thirty pages are devoted to prehistoric pseudosuchians and their ancestors, with the rest being about modern crocodilians. There is also some outdated information, such as Kaprosuchus being given a length well above current estimates, Postosuchus being reconstructed as a quadruped, and Boverisuchus being called "Pristichampsus".
"The Rise of Reptiles: 320 Million Years of Evolution" by Hans-Dieter Sues also have a little over thirty pages about Pseudosuchia. Beyond that there are not many books about the subject.
The only other one I can think of is "King of the Crocodylians: The Paleobiology of Deinosuchus" by paleontologist David Schwimmer. It is only about a single species and is now over two decades old. The undo obscurity of these fascinating reptiles is the main reason I made this channel.
@@chimerasuchus
I very much appreciate all the work you have done, it's completely changed the way I look at crocodilians.
Perhaps you should write that book? I can empathize what it's like to study a neglected field. You would do a great job & it is very much needed. Willing to bet the paleo community would crowd fund its publishing, the demand seems to be there.
These animals would have been very formidable. Thankfully they didn't survive to more modern periods of time.
Imagining A rhino that looked and acted like a salt water crocodile running aid in land..... scary thought.
Thanks for sharing.
Big cats are still quite dangerous, but they get the past just for being mammals.
Since they didn't really walk on their toes like other long legged animals that are fast, but more like bears and elephants with real feet, I have to wonder what their speed really was. My guess is that their long legs were more for long distance travel and patrolling their territory but not so much running down a horse. They probably just did a little burst of crazy energy to pounce and otherwise moved at 4mph or so.
Well bears and elephants aren’t slow, but they are t quiet either. Meaning Dentaneosuchus was protentially a very loud runner, or more over a stampeder
yeah elephants and bears are crazy fast, dentaneosuchus was slow bcz it’s croc cmon
Plenty of other terrestrial crocodylomorphs were fast, and even some modern crocodilians have retained the ability to gallop.
@mr.malachite3027
Elephants are very quiet walkers.
@@chimerasuchus not enough to chase down big, fast prey
I'm fairly certain titanoboa still holds the title of largest known predator that is not fully aquatic.
It's spinosaur
Titanoboa is estimated to be 14m and over 1,000 kg for comparison Barinusuchus is 1,600kg with some estimates of 2,000kg but if talk about semi aquatic predators not fully aquatic this belongs to purrassuarus, dienosuchus and spinosauras but still titanoboa is the biggest snake of all time even in terms of length titanoboa is rivaled by spinosauras but size is measured in mass not length in fact the modern saltwater crocodile can actually eceed titanoboa in terms of mass of course not length there are skulls of saltwater crocodile which indicate a full length of over 6.8m in length and a weight of 1,500kg -1,700kg some sources claim 2,000kg!!!
I learned something interesting.
That's so cool, wow!
Excellent vid once more my friends, thanks very much!
I had to laugh at your apt descriptor of the silly conservative estimation of size being presented for this new, lovely beast, as a ludicrously ambulating Bobble-Head. Too true!
I agree with your estimation, considering the size of the skull being a meter long, that the animal would be no less than 6 meters long. Anything shorter would require massive neck muscles disproportionate to its considered build structure and would be more in line with say, Erythrosuchus, which nature gave up on back in the Triasssic period.
Thanks again. :)
what do you think is a better tilde for a successor for When Crocs ate Dinosaurs. Crocs Through Time or Crocs of The Past.
Crocs Through Time.
Does this mean crocodylian ectothermy wasn't an adaptation to the aquatic ambush predator niche?
It is a bit complicated. The shift towards ectothermy started before they became semi-aquatic for as of yet unknown reasons, but became more extreme afterwards.
This makes me wonder - just as archosaurs continued to dominate some ecosystems in the 'age of mammals', did any mammals dominate some ecosystems in the age of dinosaurs?
Not to our knowledge. The largest Mesozoic mammal was no larger than a badger.
However, the larger clade mammals are a part of, Synapsida, was dominate during the Early Triassic, much as the had been during the end of the Paleozoic. Large synapsids called dicynodonts survived to the end of the period, reaching the size of elephants.
Yeah, Denteneosuchus and Barinasuchus being 3-4 meters would make absolutely no sense with how big their skulls are.
OH MY GOD.
I THOUGHT THOSE LEGS IN ITS MOUTH WERE WEIRD TEETH, AND I NEEDED TO FIND OUT WHAT KIND OF CREATURE GREW SUCH THINGS!
IT'S EATING SOMETHING!
I FEEL SO DUMB XD
What mic do you use in your videos?
Still kindly asking for a Rutiodon Video please?
I see giant land croc, i click
The lophiodon weight stated in the video is off by more than 1800kg.
The largest specimens of lophiodon weigh around 200-350kg, with everything over 250kg being a very generous estimate.
Do ectotherms usually have a shorter/squatter stance; due to blood flow etc?
It's just that this thing seems quite 'tall' in some of the video's estimates?
Notosuchians like Dentaneosuchus had erect limbs similar to those of dinosaurs and mammals. Notosuchia is actually the only group of ectotherms with this limb arrangement, although they were on the higher end of the ectothermic spectrum.
@@chimerasuchus
Thanks. So although ectothermic the notosuchia would have been more 'endothermic' than eg contemporary crocodilians etc?
Thanks again.
Espetacular!!!
I would say any situation where Europe, Japan, or the US seem to be the oldest example of something that’s not very good proof of the actual situation, only the relative oversampling of those areas.
7:30 a what?
Razanandrongobe.
If the large land crocs were lipless, wouldn’t that give some weight to the lipless dinosaur position? Not evidence of absence at all but it does appear to erode the notion that land animals must have lips in order to protect the teeth. Just a rather uninformed question.
Actually, in original Jurassic Park, only T. Rex is shown without lips.
There is no real evidence for land crocs being lipless either.
@@chimerasuchus that is true. I made the assumption based on the art. Thanks for the reply!
I want these notosuchians back. 😢
Give ‘em all back I want em
Mammals really became dominant in the large body niches only during the cooler Neogene. A large part of the Cenozoic had or also very large reptiles and birds.
It was about the size of its ancient relative Postosuchus if it was about 20 ft long.
Is it me or is Bill J Unzen the only one to depict these huge terrestrial carnivores with round pupils? HodariNundu too, maybe.
Regardless: Dentaneosuchus? Too cool for words.
it's fortunate for us, these Dentaneosuchus did not evolve further to become dinosaurs again.
The picture shown is not the ischium, but the proximal femur.
The reptiles were still top dogs during the time of mammals.
Some reptiles mostly crocodilians still are.
SO COOOL THAT IT HAD LITTLE ARMS IN ITS MOUTH!!!!
now... do dinosaur doctors think this helped with catching food or was it a grooming thing?
thats a bird in its mouth 😭
@@tysonwastaken its a joke i said :'(
learn to laugh you may actually enjoy life!
Anyone else think the bird legs in the thumbnail were a pair of weird antlers?
fascinating
These look like great steeds to ride into battle upon.
awesome
Wait. If they estimated that it was probably 3-4m long, with a 1m long head, well the 4m estimate would have it more ridiculous than Erythrosuchus head:body proportions (1/5). And as absurd as those things look, imagine the 3m it's actually a walking bobblehead at that point isn't it? I would love to see a depiction.
You don't often hear about the reptiles and such after dinosaurs
He eat da bird in the thumbnail
Purrursaurus: hold my capybara
Christ, these things look like they belong in the Paleozóic
More like Mesozoic
The allosaurus allosaurus max 12 m namesake and yutyrannus Max 9m we're both in the 9 to 12 m long range an allosaurus could get up to Two Tons varying for age and sex so how are they similar in length to this creature both longer one way heavier as you said this thing could Max at 6m 1.4 tons say Max weight as a yutyrannus just wondering is all
"50% of their body length." Did you mean to say 15?
No, 50%, which is why that estimate is so questionable.
Wouldn't these guys likely have had lips like we now assume most dinosaurs had since they were not amphibious like modern crocs?
Probably.
So imagine, we and all animals has developed a skeleton structure from a fish (jaw/mouth, ribs, spine and etc.)
now imagine we would developed from a octopus body structure xD (beak, no bones etc.)
or just imagine dinosaurs would be still running wild
Los cocodrilos terrestres han sido lo común a lo largo de la historia evolutiva
I have a friend who could fight one of them for a kebab.
Provided it had chilli sauce.
No chilli sauce, no fight.
I wanna pet it
The paper that described dentaneosuchus sounds like a joke, like that 3-4 meter length and that crazy recreation image
Please tell me you did not just forget about the soft-C rule!
Did it evolve lips to keep their teeth hydrated?
It probably had them, and since it ancestors were never semi-aquatic, they probably never lost lips in the first place
Ah! For the good all days!
Trex head with 4 legs
Why do you no longer narrate your own videos?
Is it wrong for me to think that extinct animals are weak? Since they didn't survive???? I don't know
It's about adaptability, not strength.
Natural selection forces animals to optimize for a certain set of environmental conditions, and usually these conditions are relatively stable over many generations. But a sudden change to these conditions - say, for example, a geologically rapid change in the average global temperature - will usually destroy the niches of the majority of individuals and species whose genes/phenotypes had been optimized for the previous conditions, those that would have been considered "strong" or more accurately, fit for reproduction.
I'm glad evolution and I agree that crocodiles need to stay in the freaking water.