Crocodiles were once vegetarians – but it was just a phase
- Study using 146 teeth from 16 extinct species shows some early crocodile forebears were omnivores, while others likely specialised in plants
- Some species probably looked a lot like modern day alligators or crocodiles, but others were smaller and lived entirely on land
Crocodiles are sometimes described as living fossils for their close resemblance to their forebears who roamed the Earth during the age of the dinosaurs.
But if you happened to find yourself a time machine that sent you back to the Mesozoic Era, not all the crocs you would come across would size you up as a tasty meal.
That is according to a new study published in Cell Press on Thursday that fed high-res scans of 146 teeth from 16 extinct species into a computer model and determined that, unlike their modern progeny who renowned for their ferocity, some early crocodyliforms were an altogether more peaceful lot.
“What’s really fascinating about this is a lot of these teeth are unlike anything we see today,” said Keegan Melstrom, a doctoral student at the University of Utah who conducted the research along with his supervisor, Randall Irmis.
To determine what tooth complexity reveals about diet, Melstrom relied on previous work on heterodonty in mammals, and his own earlier findings about teeth differences in reptiles.