- Sarcosuchus imperator— a.k.a. SuperCroc— means "flesh crocodile emperor," a name derived from its enormous size. It lived in Africa about 110 million years ago and represents an oversized side branch of crocodile evolution. It became extinct after a few million years. Its fossil bones reveal its monstrous body size, nearly twice as long and many times heavier than today’s largest living crocs.
- Sarcosuchus grew to a maximum length of about 40 feet— the size of a school bus. Its skull alone reached six feet in length and it weighed up to 10 tons, or 20,000 pounds. In comparison, today’s largest croc, the male saltwater crocodile, grows to 16 feet long on average and weighs a little more than 1,000 pounds.
- In appearance, Sarcosuchus is perhaps best envisioned as a cross between today’s long-snouted gharial from India and the powerful, aggressive Nile crocodile from Africa.
- Some crocodiles are capable of eating 20 percent of their weight at one meal, and Sarcosuchus meals probably included many an unlucky dinosaur! Sarcosuchus also probably ate five- to-six-foot-long fish found in the same ancient rivers, including lungfish, freshwater sharks and coelacanths. Today’s crocodilians eat a wide range of food, including fish, birds, snails, crustaceans, snakes, small domestic animals and even wildebeests and zebras.
- Sarcosuchus had monstrous upper teeth, unlike the slender interlocking teeth of a dedicated fish-eater such as today’s Indian gharial. Like the most voracious living crocodiles, Sarcosuchus would have ambushed large land animals near the river’s edge, dragging them to a watery death.
- Sarcosuchus most likely lived alongside the spinosaur Suchomimus, the largest and most common land predator of its day. About 36 feet long, Suchomimus was nearly as large as a typical Tyrannosaurus rex. Like Sarcosuchus, Suchomimus lived in Africa about 110 million years ago in a region characterized by rivers and forests and home to other dinosaurs, crocodiles, turtles, pterosaurs and fish. "Without doubt," says paleontologist Paul Sereno, "SuperCroc and Suchomimus squared off from time to time for dominance of the waterways."
- Like other crocodiles, Sarcosuchus must have laid eggs, although none has yet been discovered. Today’s crocs lay between 30 and 50 eggs, on average, each weighing only a couple of ounces. The gender of hatchlings in today’s crocs is determined by the nest temperature during a critical period of time; Sarcosuchus eggs also may have been temperature sensitive.
- Today’s crocs are typically very social animals, often tending to hatchlings, basking in groups, or communicating among themselves. Sarcosuchus may have behaved similarly, using its large nose cavity as a resonating chamber for calling to others of its species.
The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, in downtown Raleigh, documents and interprets the natural history of the state of North Carolina through exhibits, research, collections, publications, and educational programming. Hours: Mon.-Sat., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sun., noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free. Visit the Museum on the web at www.naturalsciences.org. The Museum is an agency of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, William G. Ross Jr., Secretary.
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