Up to 12 feet in length and with a fierce, aggressive attitude, two new species of giant dwarf crocodile that have just been identified by scientists are not the ones you would want to see.
Between 15 and 18 million years ago, these beasts were common in Africa. It appears as though they abruptly left the scene, possibly due to environmental changes.
The largest predator our ancestors faced were these.
crocodiles are just as predatory as they were when they were younger. It would have been dangerous for ancient humans to go down to the river for a drink.
The snouts of the animals were short and deep. The nostrils of K. mabokoensis and K. tchernovi would have faced the front.
The discovery of the two new species was made through an analysis of multiple skull fragments collected from digs in the East Africa Rift Valley, which revealed a very similar but still distinct pair of crocodile species.
The animals would have spent most of their time in the forest looking for food. The areas where they most likely lived and died would have been covered with forests.
Climate change is the most likely explanation for the species vanishing, according to the researchers. The animals were less suited to the grassland and savanna habitats.
Dwarf crocodiles are found in forested wetlands. The crocodiles in the area may have changed due to the loss of habitat.
The rise of the larger bipedal primate that gave rise to modern humans has been linked to the changes in the environment.
It's not certain when the Kinyang crocodiles became extinct, so further research is required. There is a gap in the fossil record between the giant dwarf crocodiles and the modern ones.
Researchers don't know how many teeth they would have had, for example, and there's more to discover about these species. The identification of the species will allow other fossils to be matched in the future.
If you gave them the chance, they would bite your face off if they saw it.
The research has been published.
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