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Meet the Carolina Butcher, a 9-Foot Crocodile That Walked On Two Legs
HughPickens.com writes Science News reports on the Carolina Butcher, a giant, bipedal reptile that looked a lot like living crocodiles — except it walked on two legs, not four. Carnufex carolinensis is one of the oldest and largest crocodile ancestors identified to date. Its size and stature also suggest that for a time, the Carolina Butcher (named for its menacing features), was one of the top predators in the part of the supercontinent Pangaea that became North America. Past fossil finds show that cousins of ancient crocodiles were vying with the earliest bipedal dinosaurs, called theropods, for the title of top predator in the southern regions of Pangaea but the Carolina Butcher's reign probably ended 201 million years ago when a mass extinction event wiped out most large, land-based predators, clearing the way for dinosaurs to fully dominate during the Jurassic period. Carnufex is one of the most primitive members of the broad category of reptiles called crocodylomorphs, encompassing the various forms of crocs that have appeared on Earth. "As one of the earliest and oldest crocodylomorphs, Carnufex was a far cry from living crocodiles. It was an agile, terrestrial predator that hunted on land," says Lindsay Zanno. "Carnufex predates the group that living crocodiles belong to." Transported back to the Triassic Period, what would a person experience upon encountering this agile, roughly three metre-long, about 1.5 metre-tall beast with a long skull and blade-like teeth? "Abject terror," says Zanno.
a giant, bipedal reptile that looked a lot like living crocodiles — except it walked on two legs, not four.
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Everybody knows that fossils were placed by the Devil to throw us off the path and test our faith!
http://en.memory-alpha.org/wik...
Calzado: Crocodiles on a three wheeler?
Archer: Right, how scary would that be?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Slashdot: this discovery broadens our understanding of biology and the world we live in. It is important to the understanding of the planet as well as our history on it.
Carolinians: the carolina butcher was placed there by Jesus to test your faith. ancient revival preachers would juggle them like snakes to prove gays were responsible for katrina and benghazi is a muslim shariah plot.
Good people go to bed earlier.
Thank you, giant asteroid.
Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
I hope they have built some spaceships before 201 million years extinction event.
Grrrrrrllllssssssssth
Grrrrrrrrnnnnllllssssssth!
Just need some lasers to mount on its head...
Silence is a state of mime.
So...not very much terror?
"abject" means "sunk to or existing in a low state or condition." It does not mean "an extreme amount."
Stuff that matters to nobody else.
Oh, I dunno; a number of fiction writers are probably going to use it as a model for some characters, and then having fun pointing out that they're a realistic interpretation of something that has in fact lived on Earth. A conventional alternate-universe plot would put their intelligent descendants in contact with us weird primates, who never developed on their world because their ancestors ate all the primates.
Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
Just curious, what made the researchers think the creature was in fact bipedal. The fact the forelegs are shorter thant the hind legs? There's nothing in the article that tries to justify the assertion except the CG image. The creature could be no more bipedal than a bear or a gorilla that occasionally walks on two legs.
T-Rex also walked on two legs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W...
Slash-dice-vertisement-for-some-bucks-under-the-table needs germany to produce a shorter word for it.
Abusing the slashdot effect will eventually lose effectivity.
2cts
Back-to-the-future! Who sez DemoCrocs can't rise to the occasion ? Excepting the attractive tail those lumber-lizards look like a cross between Hillary-babe and Pelosi.
The Burninator!
...don't hear about this. They will immediately connect it to this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L...
:::The Spear in the heart of the Other is the Spear in the heart of You; You are He - Surak of Vulcan:::
what would a person experience upon encountering this agile, roughly three metre-long, about 1.5 metre-tall beast with a long skull and blade-like teeth?
Probably a Monty Python like reaction. And soiled underware.
No. It'll be another reality show "Carolina Butcher Hunter", probably on TLC or Discovery Science. If it would be on SyFy then it'll be crap.
Don't be apathetic. Procrastinate!
Obviously essential for paleontologists!
A half dozen or so pieces of fossilized bone. One of which is part of a femur. NONE of which are hips, legs, feet, brain case, etc. With what they have, they might as well have pictured our long-snouted proto-croc riding a Harley!
...came here looking for "overlords" posts, and left disappointed.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
Feed it a clock. That at least buys you time, eh Smee?
Carolina Butcher, meet the salt water crocodile. Generally between 14ft and 17ft and between 400kg and 1000kg in mass (up to 22ft long and 2000kg), and according to wikipedia "despite their relative lethargy, saltwater crocodiles are agile predators and display surprising agility and speed when necessary, usually during strikes at prey."