A giant crocodile fossil unearthed in Tunisia:

A giant crocodile fossil unearthed in Tunisia:

In the Tunisian desert, a team of paleontologists supported by National Geographic unearthed a fossil of the largest saltwater crocodile. They found that this extraordinary reptile dimensions, called machimosaurus rex, lived some 120 million years.

An ultra-powerful jaw, 10 meters long, an average weight of 3 t ... machimosaurus rex, the largest known marine crocodile, was a formidable predator. The discovery of fossil unnouveau in southern Tunisia has just been published in the Dutch journal Cretaceous Research.

According to Dr. Frederico Fanti, who led the research team, the bones date back 120 million years. Is widely after the mass extinction that marked the end of the Jurassic, there are 145 million years. Until now, researchers were convinced that machimosaurus rex had not survived. The discovery of this fossil changes the game: "It adds to the growing evidence that many marine reptiles have not disappeared during this extinction," said paleontologist Stephen Brusatte Scottish.

Scientists machimosaurus rex evolved almost exclusively in salt water, not venturing on rare occasions to surprise on the shore of prey little cautious. "He had thick teeth, short and rounded, explains Dr. Fanti. His jaw was well developed, which secured him an incredible bite force. "He could, for example, easily breaking the shell of a large sea turtle.

In the category of saltwater crocodiles, machimosaurus rex supplanted largely competition. But there is still underperformed its terrestrial congener Sarcosuchus imperator. This crocodile that lived there 110 million years, posted a record weight of 8 t and a size of 12 m.