Crocodiles Flourished With Dinosaurs, New Report Reveals How: Jurassic Jaws, Diversity

Crocodiles and dinosaurs had a fascinating, interconnected relationship millions of years ago, a new report reveals.

Today's crocodiles seem like living dinosaurs, sure, but they're very different from actual dinosaurs. A new report reveals the how two species competed for resources millions of years ago....yet were able to thrive together.

"The ancestors of today' crocodiles have a fascinating history that is relatively unknown compared to their dinosaur counterparts," said Tom Stubbs, the lead researcher, to press. "They were very different creatures to the ones we are familiar with today, much more diverse and, as this research shows, their ability to adapt was quite remarkable."

In order to find out about ancient crocs, researchers went to the horse's mouth...or, er, the crocodile's.

Today, most crocodiles live in freshwater, but millions of years ago, some could "run around on land like dogs while others could live in the open ocean and fed like today's killer whales," a report from Science World Report says.

Researchers examined the jaws of over 100 ancient crocodiles, and learned about why they did--and didn't--become extinct, although dinosaurs did.

They found that the crocodile's "evolution and anatomical variation during the Mesozoic Era was exceptional. They evolved lifestyles and feeding ecologies unlike anything seen today," Stubbs said.

In the study, the researchers found both how the crocodiles fed and how they became extinct. The answer was in diversity-the number of types of crocodiles allowed them to flourish in many different habitats.

"We were curious how extinction events and adaptations to extreme environments during the Mesozoic--a period covering over 170 million years--impacted the feeding systems of ancient crocodiles and to do this we focused our efforts on the main food processing bone, the lower jaw," said Stephanie Pierce, one of the researchers, in a news release.

Following extinction at the end of the Triassic period, ancient crocodiles invaded the Jurassic seas and evolved jaws that allowed for hydrodynamic efficiency, researchers have discovered.

Pierce added, "Our results show that the ability to exploit a variety of different food resources and habitats, by evolving many different jaw shapes, was crucial to recovering from the end-Triassic extinction and most likely contributed to the success of Mesozoic crocodiles living in the shadow of the dinosaurs."

The findings will be published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.