Prehistoric crocodile weighs 3 tons and is as long as a bus

Massive weight is what drives the prehistoric caiman crocodile to grow more vertebrae on the sacrum to support the weight.

Prehistoric Caiman is as heavy as today's Asian elephants.(Photo: AFLY).

The international team, led by Dr. Torsten Scheyer of the Zurich Institute of Archeology, examines the fossil record of prehistoric giant crocodiles to find out how they moved. The research results were published in eLife magazine on November 27.

Caiman Purussaurus mirandai crocodile can match Asian elephants in terms of weight and length of nearly 8 m, according to John Hutchinson at the Royal College of Veterinary Medicine, member of the research team. This crocodile lived 6 million years ago in what is today Venezuela and is one of the largest members of the Crocodile family. The team found that P. mirandai had an extra vertebra on the sacral bone at the base of the spine.

Prehistoric Caiman crocodile is the only species of this crocodile grows more vertebrae. The researchers suggest that the Hox gene that controls the position of body parts is also transformed according to this evolutionary trait.

Dr. Scheyer shared, they were lucky to find many fossils in Venezuela. These skeletons help researchers understand the morphological diversity of extinct animals long ago.

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