Timeline: stem-crocs

Birds and crocodiles together span the group of archosaurs. While the bird lineage with the pterosaurs and all types of dinosaurs is quite famous, the representatives of the crocodile lineage are for those with advanced knowledge. These pseudosuchians were not quite as gigantic and their shapes are somewhat less varied than those of the dinosaurs. Their great time was the Triassic, at the end of which large land hunters like this Batrachotomus became extinct and finally had to cede their previous dominance completely to predatory dinosaurs. Only fairly small forms survived this mass extinction. We know their new unfolding as crocodiles, in a broader sense. They also remained high-legged, erect land reptiles. The low posture is secondary in evolutionary lineages that adapted to the aquatic realm. This Sacrosuchus from the Cretaceous period could grow to over 10 meters in length because it preyed on dinosaurs on the banks of rivers. 

digital painting, 2024

Urweltmuseum GEOSKOP Burg Lichtenberg (Pfalz)