Mourasuchus: The Filter Feeding Caiman of the Prehistoric Amazon

Mourasuchus was a prehistoric genus of crocodilians with incredibly massive, yet weak skulls. They have often been considered filter feeders, although there are other hypotheses about how they lived. All four species of Mourasuchus lived in South America between 16 to 7 million years ago, a time of unprecedented crocodilian diversity.
Thank you to the themattalorian for narrating this video.
Sources:
palaeo-electronica.org/content/pdfs/657.pdf
pdfs.semanticscholar.org/7f9d/4afc52d259e1fcb1a2e5b5dd4fae57c077f7.pdf
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0895981122002589?casa_token=m-4rhTPzNxkAAAAA:Bgzyywty1NrWiO-lJ5k5J2pLNqUd6HOF9ja4-3_MWpC5q-jootAa1788EyWq9b5g_U-fcNzyXds
anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ar.22625
www.researchgate.net/profile/Giovanne-Cidade/publication/337599599_The_feeding_habits_of_the_strange_crocodylian_Mourasuchus_Alligatoroidea_Caimaninae_a_review_new_hypotheses_and_perspectives/links/5de182cd92851c836454834c/The-feeding-habits-of-the-strange-crocodylian-Mourasuchus-Alligatoroidea-Caimaninae-a-review-new-hypotheses-and-perspectives.pdf
www.researchgate.net/publication/331834878_New_specimens_of_Mourasuchus_Alligatoroidea_Caimaninae_from_the_Miocene_of_Brazil_and_Bolivia_and_their_taxonomic_and_morphological_implications
00:00 - Introduction
00:49 - Species
01:16 - Size
02:37 - Skull
05:18 - Body
06:30 - Diet
06:59 - Ambush Predator?
07:40 - Filter Feeding?
08:26 - Gulp Feeding?
09:57 - Herbivore?
10:48 - Paleoenvironment
12:12 - Conclusion
12:36 - Outro

[@thelaughinghyenas8465]

Keep the narrator. They did a good job. Those are WEIRD critters - and that's what makes them fascinating. Thank you for bringing this to us.

[@itzhellraptor._.9923]

*He

[@danielled8665]

​@iTz Hell Raptor ._. They is an acceptable pronoun to refer to either gender.

[@itzhellraptor._.9923]

@@danielled8665 narrator is clearly a male.

[@danielled8665]

@iTz Hell Raptor ._. so? Its still an acceptable way to say it? "They" has always been used sometimes as an interchangeable singular with "he/she", it's only lately with people getting their drawers in a knot over not wanting to be accepting of nonbinary that literally anyone has cared. Weird how the people who say they don't care about pronouns get the most upset about pronouns

[@thelaughinghyenas8465]

@@danielled8665 , As someone who is old enough to remember when sex was binary and nothing but binary, I can speak about how the words used to be back in the BC (Before Cellular) days. He or she referred to a singular individual of the appropriate reproductive plumbing. They didn't specify gender and wasn't limited to a singular individual. English is very lacking in pronouns. We don't have you familiar singular or you familiar plural, except for thou when used in liturgical English or y'all/all y'all in Southern English.

[@adarliah9071]

Damn man, seeing that graphic with Steve makes me think of how much how would love all these crocodilymorphs. Awesome video as always, thanks!

[@ZeFroz3n0ne907]

I'm sure he would have loved to have worked with them! I almost teared up when I saw that. Steve Irwin was certainly one of a kind. May he rest in peace. ❤He's definitely one of my heroes.

[@jameskazd9951]

@@ZeFroz3n0ne907 absolutely loved the crocodile hunter when i was a kid, always had an interest in animal stuff, living and extinct. was definitely a hero of mine as well.

[@dinohall2595]

I love how this channel always explains the evolutionary significance of the animals it describes, like how they were ecologically different than their close relatives or how they revealed something about the adaptation of specific clades or how they challenged previous hypotheses about prehistoric ecosystems. I doubt I'll ever find a channel which makes better videos on extinct crocodylomorphs!

[@paintbrush3554]

Awesome video! I didn't even know we used to have fiter feeding giant caimans!

[@artiefufkin88]

Wow. VERY interesting. Each proposed method of feeding has it problems. I'll be looking to see what else we figure out about these weird crocs

[@K.Pershing]

Thanks for talking about my favorite!

[@chimerasuchus]

You're welcome!

[@ZeFroz3n0ne907]

Absolutely amazing video! I also had an idea on how it could have fed, I wonder if it used that big, wide head like a platypus? Swinging it side-by-side in the mud and silt and letting the electroreceptors pinpoint it's preferred food? Just a thought. I also think it could have sat under water with it's mouth open and let fish or possibly soft-shelled turtles get close and then scooped them up? Maybe even snails or whathaveyou. Just an idea that crossed my mind. Love the content you produce! Keep up the amazing work!

[@theoheinrich529]

gotta love more creatures being featured here

[@armyant9163]

Love how they used Steve Erwin in the scale!

[@mlggodzilla1567]

Another great video 😎 (I missed your content man, glad you are back)

[@sneakysnake7695]

2:27 Caimans to the Capybara like "Damn I didn't know you were chill like that"

[@Soilfood365]

Great video, as always, with amazing artwork that just makes me want to see these in life!

[@posticusmaximus1739]

Gryposuchus & Purussaurus would be great video topics! Once you get these 2, you'll have covered all the major mega crocs

[@chimerasuchus]

Don't forget Rhamphosuchus!

[@sauraplay2095]

Great video! Very interesting to learn that all those crocodilians lived in the same place.

[@Ballistics_Computer]

It might me just me, but I feel like the paleoenvironment section should have probably come a little earlier. I like to know what time period I'm in when learning about a prehistoric creature, but other than that I'm glad to have learned about this bizarre beast

[@bibia666]

🎉Yes.., a new video.., and as usual I've liked it😊.. Thanks and greetings bibia.

[@max.thecarno]

Yay a new vid

[@joeshmoe8345]

Heckin sick, preciate ya doin these.

[@paolopasaol9700]

Can we call this dude a Pelicaiman? Eh? Eh? Eh?

[@juniorpostmancoelophysis]

The bizzare twists and turns of evolution.

[@19megamustaine85]

cool video maybe make a video on purussaurus and gryposuchus.

[@kuitaranheatmorus9932]

W video fr ngl can't wait for more epic video such as these. Also I wish yall are having a great day

[@Crakinator]

Crocodylomorphs are such an amazing group. It’s too bad there aren’t any mega crocs or highly specialized crocodylomorphs left today.

[@georgefspicka5483]

Thank you for the explanation.

[@baum8981]

I dont think, ingesting non digestible matter is much of a problem. The sand fish skink for example just passes the sand alongside its food through the intestines. And balline whales for example have a very small opening to the stomach, so if anything big ends up in their mouth, they physically can't swallow it and spit it back out.

[@TheAnimalKingdom-tq3sz]

*Balline It's Baleen

[@dinos9441]

Purussaurus is the coolest in my opinion

[@PABrewNews]

Steve cameo!

[@kevingluys3063]

Crocodilians can go for a long time between meals. Perhaps it relied on eel or salmon run kinds of situations where it could reliably gulp down tons of spawn or fish during a season and live off of that for the rest of the year?

[@majo2870]

What a mystery that how it fed! Thanks 💚

[@fernbedek6302]

(I will admit that the original host’s voice holds my attention to the narration better.)

[@godzillagamingboy4785]

Amazing video! You probably don’t take requests but I was wondering if you could make a video about the theropod yutyrannus.

[@fourierdata]

Excellent video

[@KaijuFan1954]

Let’s go a new video!

[@KENSHIROez3260]

This is very unique because there is no caiman like this in the modern time like

[@beastmaster0934]

2:35 Which ALSO got a downsize in the same study, albeit not as drastic. From 10 meters, to 9 meters. Still big as hell, but not the largest.

[@NotyagNosaj]

very cool. perhaps its skull shape maximized the amount of Integumentary sensory organs enabling it to hunt in very dark muddy waters. this fits with the idea that it hunted in shallow muddy backwaters or seasonally flooded wetlands, using its many small teeth (and perhaps a pelican pouch) to hold onto slippery prey like lungfish or eels. yum!

[@jacobdalland1390]

What's up with Miocene South America, that it had not one but several crocodilians larger than any seen today? I don't recall of any crocodilians coexisting with Deinosuchus or Sarcosuchus that were even close to that size.

[@mlggodzilla1567]

Most likely niche partitioning,as mentioned in the video purussaurus was the one better built for megafauna, mourasuchus is not yet well understood, and the fish eating gryposuchus (even though this one unlike many gavialids, it has been shown of having an extraordinarily powerful bit),not to mention that the habitat specifically needed for these animals were much more abundant and helped obviously with their survival. A much more famous analogy is that of the giant theropods spinosaurus and carcharondontosaurus (also sauroniops and possibly deltadromeus)

[@Kroggnagch]

Liking solely for the Steve Irwin used for scale oh also the video is truly good.

[@vincentx2850]

The more I think about it, the more the plant eating hypothesis makes sense. Mourasuchus really looks like a duck, and specifically a shoveler - which is a duckweed specialist. Duckweed likely to be a really dominant plant in large wetland, and is very starchy for a leafy green, making it easy to digest and nutrient dense.

[@bricksloth6920]

Good narration

[@jfu5222]

Thanks, caimans are somewhat neglected when compared to other crocodilians.

[@UniDocs_Mahapushpa_Cyavana]

Even filter feeding seems energetic in the context of crocodilians 🐊 . 😅

[@brendenhassler4613]

So awesome!!!!!!!!

[@LeoTheYuty]

such a cool animal!

[@blubberfeet5430]

Love the video. Did we get a new Narrator?

[@Alberad08]

If its throat poach was sizeable enough, it probably might have hunted fish like a pelikan?

[@knightshade6232]

Maybe its a filter feeder eating tiny planktons or krill ... Just like whales they dont need to be fast they just need wide surface area.

[@ivangutierrez7602]

To me the ultra broad and flat pancake snout looks like frog feeding, reliying on stealth and oportunity and using the mandibles to catch prey and swallow whole, plus the thin snouth would allow it to stay in very shallow water possibly waiting for smaller animals to go and drink.

[@maozilla9149]

cool video

[@jensphiliphohmann1876]

08:50f _Another much older crocodilomorph was Anatosuchus, nicknamed the duck croc._ It's not a nickname, it's the literal translation of its Greek name.

[@chimerasuchus]

It technically means "Duck crocodile".

[@jensphiliphohmann1876]

@@chimerasuchus What I said.😎

[@chimerasuchus]

@@jensphiliphohmann1876 "Duck crocodile" is what the name means, "DuckCroc" is the nickname.

[@jensphiliphohmann1876]

@@chimerasuchus Ah,o.k..

[@davidecascapera987]

Bruh. A channel that talk of ancient animals, and focuses on crocodilians!? Sing me in.

[@brianedwards7142]

There's also the migratory caiman: Caiman went.

[@cinthialara386]

Thanks for the video by the way it is possible to recreate stomatosuchus by mixing DNA (with most of its DNA being crocodiles and some DNA being baleen whales for its size and toothles snout with a throat pounch) creating giant filter-feeding stomatosuchus is there a chance that this will work or am i wrong(opinion)?by the way i like the topic of cloning

[@StoneTitan]

Could it potentially have evolved to hunt birds? At the water surface Or would a smalller jaw be better there.

[@mlggodzilla1567]

There is always the fact that this crocodilian skull did not tolerate high amounts of stress coming from struggling animals, but who knows really

[@posticusmaximus1739]

S. America was truly a giant island of weirdness during most of the Cenozoic

[@RhythmGrizz]

Steve Irwin would have loved your channel.

[@Butchi-butchi]

Now that my friends is a large mouth right there not gonna lie

[@kitwing2904]

Just how many crocodilian evolutions do they have?

[@mikepette4422]

the just LOVE going to the Filter feeder trope dont they

[@kade-qt1zu]

Wut?

[@nc3136]

Love the nod to Steve Irwin

[@MrDebkumarbasu]

So this is the inspiration for Disney animators' croc design?

[@matthewpitre8159]

Yep the alligator snapping turtle that's the one I meant with the worm luer in it's mouth! I'm getting good at this!

[@thesun6211]

Its habitat kinda suggests arthropod larvae and juvenile amphibians or fish being more available as a dietary staple, maybe amphipods and fairy shrimp as well if there was wide variation in local wetlands size d/t seasonal weather.

[@williamblansett5786]

A school of small fish could have been swept in by the vacuum int s quickly opening mouth as well.

[@eriosyce688]

Please narrate yourself your voice is so good!

[@n.k.e644]

Now you can talk about the other crocodylomorphs of Pebas system? Like Purussaurus or Gryposuchus, sorry for the hassle and the bad english.

[@matthewpitre8159]

And because it was only eating small fish it probably spent a good portion of the day doing this which is probably why it stayed in water most of the time

[@mikemealey3661]

My cousin Jay♡ had one for decades named Dundee 🐊 RIP

[@Bishka100]

08:45 The original Crocoduck??

[@brianedwards7142]

It puts me in mind of a platypus. Maybe it was a crustacean eater.

[@matthewpitre8159]

Oh okay well you went on to say exactly my suggestion I got to stop making comments in the middle of videos LOL

[@kylarking]

Your comment of it being bigger than any salt water croc is inaccurate because there have been saltys caught that were up to and over twenty foot.

[@UniDocs_Mahapushpa_Cyavana]

😮

[@tomazbogataj77]

I am wondering what if this animal were a sea caiman? Sea level in the time when this animal live was very different then is today, eating sea food like plankton an molusc. .

[@chimerasuchus]

They were higher, but not that high. Every formation Mourasuchus has been found in has been determined to have been freshwater environments. Indeed, alligatorids like Mourasuchus lack functional salt glands.

[@genghiskhan6809]

New narrator.

[@stopYmpersonatYngmYacCount]

the isle; intensely writing down

[@matthewpitre8159]

To me it looks like the crocodile could have had a pouch or maybe not how to poach but it looks like it fed by having its head open waiting for something to come by like little minnows or smaller fish or what-have-you it probably literally stayed still camouflage waited till something swim near into it smells and just shut its mouth quickly then it probably pushed the water out through its teeth leaving the small fish or small animals trapped in its mouth it may have even possibly had a small luer on its tongue like those turtles do that look like a little worm that lure small fish in

[@josephlongbone4255]

I can imagine it a lunge feeder or suction feeder, ambushing schools of fish.

[@nomaschalupas2453]

Isn’t filter feeding the future? Animals had to evolve to filter feed so what comes after that, body filter feeding to eventually not worry about eating at all with smaller and smaller organisms. Also, aren’t the horns to protect its eyes when it swings its head back and forth and death rolling.

[@trueKENTUCKY]

Hey is this Ai generated content?

[@chimerasuchus]

No.

[@matthewpitre8159]

If you're eating by those and other things with shells you need some good hard teeth in there to be able to chew up the shells so I don't think that is an option normally animals like that have a hard group of teeth on the roof of their mouth and circle forms that crushed the shells so unless they have that then I don't think that is the case I think it's a mixture of sit and wait with the mouth open or lure and then slam shut letting the water pour out between the teeth trapping small fish and other small prey

[@dislikebutton6269]

Gigachad caiman

[@BendApparatus]

Was the chilling Capybara an Easter egg? 🤭

[@curious5887]

12:01 is that a Megalodon or other shark

[@julianshepherd2038]

Yes

[@chimerasuchus]

It's megalodon.

[@lucasbussard6241]

I own a smooth fronted caiman

[@TJF588]

Sudden capybara. So undisturbed.

[@igetsrealmad5716]

Yu got the Grammer wrong prehistoric cross were called sarcosuchus or something like Dat

[@chimerasuchus]

Sarcosuchus was a different genus of crocodylomorph.

[@metal87power]

Like stereotypical Disney crocodiles presented in their movies. Short, fat jaw, etc.

[@kiernanfay8960]

it would have been the catfish of crocodilians using suction feeding, not filter feeding

[@sol666]

I'd wager it used the killer whale tactic of driving fishes to the bank of the river or gape it's mouth open as it rushed up from the river bed trapping whatever fish was swimming on the surface with its massive maw or between the dry river bank and it's gaping mouth.

[@hhr4778]

First

[@joanndavidson2769]

Pelicans in Australia.

[@theoccidilian4896]

“Caiman” is both plural and singular. Please don’t add an “s”.

[@dantolino1093]

Scientific names are in latin, not English. Check out any tutorial on latin pronunciation. All best.

[@musicdcguy1]

Pelican caiman lol

[@samanthahowlett8787]

I miss the original narrator....

[@joanndavidson2769]

Pelican bird, ghirial crocodiles.

[@1998topornik]

Mourasuchus, crocodile that wanted to be a whale.

[@purwaaninataplaya]

Spinosauridae theropoda Spinosauridae + crocodylia lion =

[@poshdino6667]

This fuy is so silly

[@IsUnfourtunate]

derp