Frontpage » Tag » crocodiles

News tagged with crocodiles

New research provides clear answer to debate on dinosaur posture

(PhysOrg.com) -- Research published today (22nd February) provides, for the first time, a clear answer to the debate as to whether Triceratops and other extinct creatures took on a more mammal-like or more ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Feb 23, 2012 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (18) | comments 7 | with audio podcast

Bizarre fossil crocodile dispels notion that these reptiles are static and unchanging

(PhysOrg.com) -- We all know that crocodiles are reptiles with long snouts, conical teeth, strong jaws and long tails. But according to researchers at Stony Brook University in New York, we don't know what ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Dec 08, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (13) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

The largest known true crocodile identified

A crocodile large enough to swallow humans once lived in East Africa, according to a University of Iowa researcher.

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created May 05, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (14) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Key genes may contain insight into evolution of dinosaurs

(PhysOrg.com) -- Birds and alligators have little in common, other than that the first is sometimes the other's lunch. That hasn't always been the case, though, and that's what attracts Arkhat Abzhanov.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Nov 05, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (12) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

Gators Breathe Like Birds: Did Dinosaurs’ Ancestors Inhale Their Way To Dominance?

University of Utah scientists discovered that air flows in one direction as it loops through the lungs of alligators, just as it does in birds. The study suggests this breathing method may have helped the ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Jan 14, 2010 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (11) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Crocodiles ride ocean currents to travel the high seas

University of Queensland ecologists have unlocked the mystery of how salt-water crocodiles cross large stretches of the sea despite being poor swimmers - they like to surf.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jun 04, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (10) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Extreme archaeology: Divers plumb the mysteries of sacred Maya pools

Steering clear of crocodiles and navigating around massive submerged trees, a team of divers began mapping some of the 25 freshwater pools of Cara Blanca, Belize, which were important to the ancient Maya. ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Jul 22, 2010 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (10) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

T. rex's big tail was its key to speed and hunting prowess

Tyrannosaurus rex was far from a plodding Cretaceous era scavenger whose long tail only served to counterbalance the up-front weight of its freakishly big head.

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Nov 15, 2010 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (9) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

The eyes have it: Dinosaurs hunted by night

The movie Jurassic Park got one thing right: Those velociraptors hunted by night while the big plant-eaters browsed around the clock, according to a new study of the eyes of fossil animals. The study will ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Apr 14, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (8) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Naming evolution's winners and losers

(PhysOrg.com) -- Mammals and many species of birds and fish are among evolution's "winners," while crocodiles, alligators and a reptile cousin of snakes known as the tuatara are among the losers, according ...

Biology / Evolution

created Jul 29, 2009 | popularity 3.3 / 5 (11) | comments 8

Australian scientists unearth sabre-toothed cat

Australian scientists Thursday said they have unearthed the remains of a bizarre, prehistoric, sabre-tooth "cat" in an ancient former rainforest, where specimens stretch back 25 million years.

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Jul 08, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 1

New discovery places turtles next to lizards on family tree

(PhysOrg.com) -- Where do turtles belong on the evolutionary tree? For decades, the mystery has proven as tough to crack as the creatures' shells. With their body armor and retractable heads, turtles are such ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 20, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

New 'shieldcroc' species of ancient crocodile discovered

A University of Missouri researcher has identified a new species of prehistoric crocodile. The extinct creature, nicknamed "Shieldcroc" due to a thick-skinned shield on its head, is an ancestor of today's ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Jan 31, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

When did the feather take flight?

(PhysOrg.com) -- Some 125 million years ago--more recently than once thought possible -- the molecular structure of the modern feather began to take form, according to molecular dating research by scientists ...

Biology / Evolution

created Feb 07, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Preserved bone of Pterosaur found in stomach of Velociraptor

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have discovered a bone from a pterosaur (giant flying reptile or 'pterodactyl') in the guts of the skeletal remains of a Velociraptor (small predatory theropod dinosaur) that l ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Mar 06, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Crocodile

See full taxonomy.

A crocodile is any species belonging to the family Crocodylidae (sometimes classified instead as the subfamily Crocodylinae). The term can also be used more loosely to include all members of the order Crocodilia: i.e. the true crocodiles, the alligators and caimans (family Alligatoridae) and the gharials (family Gavialidae), or even the Crocodylomorpha which includes prehistoric crocodile relatives and ancestors. Crocodiles are large aquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. Crocodiles tend to congregate in freshwater habitats like rivers, lakes, wetlands and sometimes in brackish water. They feed mostly on vertebrates like fish, reptiles, and mammals, sometimes on invertebrates like mollusks and crustaceans, depending on species. They are an ancient lineage, and are believed to have changed little since the time of the dinosaurs. They are believed to be 200 million years old whereas dinosaurs became extinct 65 million years ago; crocodiles survived great extinction events.

For more information about Crocodile, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Related topics: dinosaurs , fossil