Scientists have confirmed that a 93-million-year-old giant crocodile found in Central Queensland, Australia, is known to devour baby dinosaurs based on remains found in fossils of its stomach contents.
The crocodile Confractosuchus sauroktonos, or broken crocodile dinosaur killer, is about 2 to 2.5 meters long, according to research published in the journal Gondwana Research.
According to scientists from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization, the word "broken" in the name of a crocodile refers to a large rock destroyed from where fossils were found.
After fossils were first discovered in 2010, early studies detected the presence of young dinosaur bones in the gut. This bone belongs to an unknown ornithopod, a group of medium to large plant -eating dinosaurs. Dinosaurs that are partially digested, may weigh about 1kg to 1.7kg.
"On an initial scan in 2015, I saw a bone buried there that looked like a chicken bone with a hook on it and immediately thought it was a dinosaur," said Joseph Bevitt, one of the study's authors.
With further analysis using high-resolution 3D digital scanning and specialized X-ray imaging over the next few years, researchers can uncover more convincing details about the giant crocodile and its prey.
Based on an analysis of dinosaur remains, the researchers say there is clear evidence of oral processing by crocodiles, including the cutting and fragmentation of prey bones, which is a feature of eating behavior seen even in some modern crocodile species.
They speculated that the crocodile may have been caught in a major flood, buried and died soon after devouring the dinosaurs it preyed on.
"Fossil remains were found in a large rock. Concrete is often formed when organic matter, or say crocodiles, sinks to the bottom of a river. Because the environment is rich in minerals, in a few days, the mud around the organism can harden and continue to harden due to bacteria. , "said Dr. Bevitt.
Scientists believe further analysis of this ancient crocodile and its final food will explain more about the relationships and behaviors of the animals that inhabited Australia millions of years ago.
They say that 35% of these crocodile fossils are preserved, including almost perfect parts of the skull, thus showing the arrangement of the teeth, although the tail and hind limbs are missing.