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NEWS > SCIENCE > PREHISTORIC SUPERCROCS FOUND ROAMING AROUND AFRICA
PREHISTORIC SUPERCROCS FOUND ROAMING AROUND AFRICA
December 7 2009
Chicago, IL – For over a century the age of the dinosaurs has inspired awe and evoked the imagination of people all across the world. The idea of giant animals roaming the world, not a human or a building to be seen, elicits an almost 
preternatural response in many people. Whether it’s a fascination with animals, monsters, or just some long lost world that time period continues to inspire the imaginations of millions of adults and children the world over.
Occasionally that lost world has come into collision with our own. The Coelacanth for example was thought to have gone extinct in the late Cretaceous until a living specimen was uncovered in 1938. Those discoveries have been rare though with much of the extinct world living only in imagination of authors and moviemakers. Now though scientists have uncovered another species long believed to have been lost to the annals of antiquity. Sarcosuchus, nicknamed SuperCroc, was the ancestor of modern day alligators and crocodiles which palaeontologists long believed went extinct 100 million years ago. Now though a recent discovery by a team from the University of Chicago has uncovered fresh specimens of the animal in the most unlikely of places, the arid desert of the Sahara.
“We have an idea of what a crocodile should be and what a mammal should be but you have to break down these categories to see what was going on in Africa back then. These animals grew up to forty feet long and weighed eight tons and had the ability to leap from the water and take down a formidable sized dinosaur much like a modern crocodile will take down a gazelle,” said chief palaeontologist Paul Sereno. “The discovery of these animals give us a new kind of insight into the development of modern crocs and alligators and show us how diverse evolution can really be, how different paths can converge and separate. It also shows us how diverse animal life was and though not nearly as diverse as it is today still showed an incredible level of diversity.”
The team did not mention where the massive super predators are currently being kept or what might happen to them in the going forward.
“This is really an incredible discovery that could change the field forever and potentially change the way we look at the evolutionary process. The biggest question will be whether or not this is just an isolated population or that modern day crocodiles have a totally different lineage than we once believed,” said Scrape TV Science analyst Dr. Howard Poe. “The other issue of course is what do we do with this species? The team didn’t note how many of the animals were found or if they believed they had captured all of them. These would be very dangerous animals to have roaming around unfettered which could cause chaos in the food chain as well as seriously threatening human populations.”
Polar Bears are currently the largest predators on the planet with the largest of the species reaching a maximum of 1500 pounds, nowhere near the size of the SuperCrocs. 
“There’s also a risk that some irresponsible government could get a hold of the animals and breed them as weapons. The sheer size and likely ferocity of these animals would make them a formidable weapon against any military force and could prove devastating in the wrong hands, “continued Poe. “Because of that, the best thing to do might be to exterminate the animals. Obviously that wouldn’t be in the best interest of science but it would be the safest thing. These animals aren’t predators like anything we are used to and would be potentially disastrous to the survival of the human race.”
Strange sounds have been reported from the basement of the University though officials insist that no cangerous animals are currently on campus.
Anna Phillips, Science Correspondent
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