Ancient Crocodile Huge and Hungry

In an astounding new discovery, remains were unearthed, in East Africa, of gigantic horned crocodile – Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni -  largest ever known crocodile, which was massive enough to have swallowed a human being whole, meaning that it could conceivably have hunted man between the period two to four million years ago when it existed

The giant creature was more than 27 ft long and without doubt the dominant predator of the ecosystem in which it lived, and since Australopithecus remains – now-extinct hominids genus – were found nearby, there is little doubt that the beast preyed upon our distant ancestor humanoids, who would have been seeking water,

Humanoids undoubtedly spent time close to water, which would have brought them right to where the crocodiles might have been living, and almost certainly then, as now, the crocodiles would creep up on anything at the water’s edge and grab for them, sometimes with success

This new species was found among National Museum of Kenya in Nairobi fossils, human remains found nearby showing those humanoids to have been only about 4 ft tall, and so the easily swallowed whole by giant crocodiles, which in appearance looked similar to modern Nile crocodiles, apart from the large snout, horn-like protuberances behind its eyes, and a powerful tail for propelling the animal forward.

These prehistoric monsters were of course semi-aquatic ambush predators, lying in wait for any creatures straying into shallow water, and even in a skeletal state, the crocodile skull alone requires four men just to lift it. Named after crocodile expert John Thorbjarnarson, this discovery reminds we modern humans that our distant relatives in time were prey as well as predators of other species.

Not just crocodile attacks would have troubled these individuals, as other of large carnivorous mammals would also have been hunting them, especially as Kenya was such a hot spot for early human evolution. Those monster crocodiles were but one threat in those early days, but what fearsome sights they must have been.