When Giant Land Crocodiles Terrorized the Mammals

In 1937 a partial skull of a now extinct crocodile relative were found in Argentina, later when its limbs were discovered they were found to be nearly twice the length of modern crocodilians specifically the length of its femur to other bones were much more comparable to creatures that primarily live on land than crocodiles. This is because while today all crocodiles are at least mostly aquatic but not that long ago many crocodiles were land animals first and foremost, hunting other land animals over land. And 15 million years ago in south America they would produce one of the largest carnivorous animals to exist since the dinosaurs went extinct.
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Sources:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/1...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science...
www.researchgate.net/figure/S...
web.archive.org/web/200907042...
academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...

[@rl9217]

Dinosaurs and other massive reptiles: (go extinct) Mammals in South America: Oh thank god, it’s over! They’re gone! We’re finally free!!! Terror birds and giant land crocodiles: I wouldn’t say free, more like, under new management.

[@stefanlaskowski6660]

+1 for Megamind reference. 😁

[@sambamsandman3679]

😂 clever bro🤣

[@ripleyandweeds1288]

Terror Birds and Giant Land Crocodiles: _Allow us to introduce ourselves~_

[@rafaeloyarzun6337]

Fun fact: during the Triassic the spot as top predator was mostly filled by the pseudosuchians, when they went extinct Dinosaur take over all major ecological nishes. Both Dinosaurs and Pseudosuchians are part of the clade Archosauria. And Terror Birds are Dinosaurs and the Sebecids(Land Crocs) and Crocodilians are both Pseudosuchians.

[@shmeagol]

Too many colons

[@WORLDCRUSHER9000]

I'm pretty sure it is more closely related to modern crocodiles, but Quinkana was a terrestrial macropredatory crocodilian in Australia with bladed teeth and a gallop-like method of locomotion only 40,000 years ago. It almost certainly interacted with humans.

[@johntom5562]

The Australian megafauna is always far more interesting to me than any other prehistoric species because I've always loved to imagine their interactions with the early indigenous

[@WORLDCRUSHER9000]

@@johntom5562 For sure, many aboriginal dreamtime stories are thought to be tens of thousands of years old. Mythical creatures like the bunyip and rainbow serpent are believed to be cultural remnants of when Australia was a wild, green continent full of unique animals. There is even surviving cave art that seems to depict marsupial lions and other extinct megafauna.

[@heurtakrause5865]

Great to learn.I got mad Aussie friends in northern territories n fr Adelaide etc.

[@Gamerafighter76]

@@johntom5562 Eeyup.

[@Gamerafighter76]

That’s interesting.

[@rafaeloyarzun6337]

Imagine waiting 160 million years to Dinosaur and Pterosaurs to become extinct and when it finally happens and the Age of Mammals begins, the biggest land predator is another Archosaur

[@kotarojujo2737]

"Get out of my swamp !!!' - Ogresuchus, probably

[@1TakoyakiStore]

Sebecids weren't the only "land crocodiles" to exist after the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event. It has evolved multiple times in various places. One surprisingly recent example is Mekosuchus inexpectatus from New Caledonia which only died out 4,000 years ago. But they weren't realted to Sebecids but normal crocodiles.

[@demensclay6419]

I am pleasantly suprised about the level of knowledge over here, not only of ML Media, but certainly also of the commenters. From both alot can be learned here!

[@chudgyth8889]

Very nice vid, but you got the cladogram at 2:14 mixed up, you put sebecids under neosuchia and modern crocodilians under notosuchia when it should be the other way around

[@AntoniusTyas]

A correction in 2:07, sebecids are part of notosuchians, while crocodylians are neosuchians

[@HuntsWithNades]

Uploaded 10 seconds ago, just the way I like it.

[@classygentlemangaming8400]

Dumb pfp

[@averageutahraptor9079]

Uploaded 59 minutes ago, just the way I like it.

[@eagonzo6573]

Uploaded 5 days ago mmm it’s had time to age and ferment just the way I like it

[@lattivfx]

Uploaded 8 days ago just the way I like it

[@Jop_pop]

9 days in and now it's properly ripe

[@chheinrich8486]

That these crocodiles lived during the mesozoic wont surpise anyone but that they remained succesfull in the paleosoic is pretty crazy

[@Chaz-dj9sq]

Absolutely wild. I usually at least know of the existence of an animal prior to seeing an MLM video on it, but not this time. My knowledge of prehistoric crocodiliforms pretty much ended at Deinosuchus and Kaprosuchus, so this was a treat! Absolutely love these videos, they're always the highlight of my day when they come out and I'm constantly shuffling back and rewatching old ones. Thank you for putting these out into the world!

[@mortified776]

Two channels to check out are CHimerasuchus and Dr Polaris. They cover a lot of the more obscure pseudosuchians, CHimerasuchus especially.

[@delphicdescant]

MLM is a really unfortunate acronym. I think I'll stick to just typing it out.

[@january3rd293]

Yeah for a second I was wondering how pyramid schemes fit into the topic of ancient crocodilians XD

[@feco91]

@@mortified776 Thanks for the recommendations! Any other channels like these? Besides Moth Light Media, I know of Henry the PaleoGuy, PBS Eons and Paleo Analysis.

[@floflo1645]

@@feco91 check theBudgetMuseum

[@dannya1854]

I wish just one of these amazing terrestrial Crocs still lives today, they could help us understand the biology, behavior, and mechanics of non avian dinosaurs that is impossible to know without them.

[@bkjeong4302]

We would still have Mekosuchus and maybe Quinkana without humans.

[@dinohall2595]

At least we have some crocodilians like the Cuban crocodile which spend more time on land than their counterparts. We may not get to see them become fully terrestrial, but given the right selective pressure and humans not deciding to be stupid and drive them extinct, the children of our children of our children might see a terrestrial crocodilian.

[@robrice7246]

6:24 Although some have hypothesized that they may be distant (or very distant) relatives of the Perissodactyls (horses, rhinos and tapirs), same goes to the Desmostylians.

[@ryomahoffman6803]

Sobek, the Egyptian crocodile god, was associated with many things. One of the most prominent things he was associated with were rivers, more specifically the Nile River, he is also known as the god of food and gluttony, the god of male fertilization, and the god of power and royalty. Many both sacrifices and breeding projects of Nile crocodiles have been made by ancient Egyptians in the honor of Sobek.

[@matthewneddeau7993]

No human sacrifices?

[@ryomahoffman6803]

@@matthewneddeau7993 I mean I’m sure human sacrifices for gods were a thing but from what I looked up it was more common for humans to be sacrificed to dead pharaohs then gods. The Aztecs were the ones who are famous for their human sacrifice rituals. There’s even an Aztec god of human sacrifices, his name is Xipe Totec(meaning The Flayed One.) He is also the god of rebirth and spring. Humans were sacrificed to all types of gods in Aztec religion tho.

[@juanjoyaborja.3054]

Notosuchids were so interesting. From those that filled cat-like niches, such as Notosuchus itself, to those that filled niches that not even the largest mammalian predators fill today, such as Barinasuchus. I’d love to see what new information comes out about them in the future, and hope they get featured in documentaries more often

[@mortimertobarius9484]

They are interesting; there is a significant ghost lineage present going back to at least the early, Jurassic with most taxa suddenly appearing during the early Cretaceous. What is particularly interesting is the fact that they were primarily terrestrial. They managed to retain some of the niches that the Poposauroids held throughout the Mesozoic.

[@Dragrath1]

@@mortimertobarius9484 Also based on one of the Royal Tyrrell lecture series discussing the armored dinosaurs (Ankylosauria) a least one group of Notosuchids even managed to largely outcompete Ankylosaurian dinosaurs in the southern hemisphere during the late Cretaceous as the dominant group of armored terrestrial herbivores. And yes there were herbivorous crocodylomorphs in fact based on the record of fossil dentition it appears crocodylomorphs evolved herbivory at least 3 times independently. Thus the diversity of niches crocodylomorphs occupied truly was huge as it ranged from predators to omnivores and herbivores. They are unfortunately as you noted quite enigmatic with the most common fossils for them being their teeth or fragmentary bones though that isn't uncommon for small to mid sized animals

[@mauriciomunoz87]

Great stuff as always. This is one of KZbin's best channel. Hands down.

[@quackerz707]

At 2:07, isn't the phylogenetic tree switched, notosuchia contains the sebecids, right, whilst neosuchia contains all extant crocodilians?

[@supercretaceousmz2710]

I always like crocodiles that walk on land very well

[@katiekost7222]

I love your stuff. I'm ridiculously excited to be seeing this so quickly after you posted.

[@cx3268]

Big prey typically get hunted by big predators. Generally big predators can't survive without big prey or a large number of not too small prey.

[@EternalEmperorofZakuul]

And then, once an extinction event occurs, the large prey goes, so do the big predators, then the small herbivores and small predators fill their niche

[@Dragrath1]

@@EternalEmperorofZakuul Yeah that appears to have been part of what happened as of the 3 major predatory groups which ruled South America throughout much of the Cenozoic only the smallest of them the terror birds would have any members survive the extinction. The larger terror birds like the Sparassodonts and sebecids all went extinct

[@Gamerafighter76]

The land based crocodilians have always been interesting to me.

[@hugoalvord2779]

I always forget how calming your voice is. Easy to do with a thumbnail like that though, wow what a croc

[@daphneloose5880]

it would be interesting to see a land crocodile today. terrifying and awesome at the same time.

[@knickymusic]

Genuinely my favorite youtuber out there. You care about the content of your videos and the quality above anything else. The professional execution of your channel is something I appreciate deeply. Reminds me of NPR but if it wasn't directed towards boring old people (I kid I kid). Thanks for all you do!

[@angelalewis3645]

Agree!

[@beastmaster0934]

1:56 Little correction, they are known as Dyrosaurids, with the Y coming before the R.

[@RedXlV]

Yep. Dryosaurids were basal iguanodonts that went extinct in the early Cretaceous.

[@huntercorey9411]

Woohoo new vid!

[@Pantera270]

WOOHOOO

[@juanguillermomoreno3327]

you are really well informed and you bring attention to a quite unknown topic by many fans of paleontology as myself

[@kuitaranheatmorus9932]

Well learning about a new animal is always exciting and this is epic

[@zooker7938]

I had no idea there were land crocodiles past the Triassic period. Cool!

[@chimerasuchus]

There were a lot of land crocs post-Triassic. The first time there was not a land croc somewhere in the world was when Mekosuchus was driven to extinction just a few thousand years ago. The clade the sebecids belonged to, Notosuchia, even replaced most of the smaller dinosaurs in Late Cretaceous Gondwana.

[@dinohall2595]

2:11 Just wanted to point out, so that no one new to the paleo world gets confused, that the labels here are mistakenly swapped. Sebecids were notosuchians while crocodilians are neosuchians, not the other way around.

[@user-jwill]

I actually never thought about how crocodilians were totally on land once upon a time! But of course it just seems they’re only aquatic. 🙌

[@chimerasuchus]

Land crocs were very widespread during the Mesozoic. Most of them were smallish but a few large ones, like Razanandrongobe, also existed.

[@Polosatiy_Varan]

@@chimerasuchus Land crocodiles were also the largest land predators in the first half of the Cenozoic.

[@DefektiveEnvy]

Do you suppose terrestrial crocodilians possessed a higher metabolism that modern aquatic crocodilians, since they hunted/lived with a different style? They probably ran after terrestrial prey.

[@Dragrath1]

They were probably somewhat mesothermic so would have had an elevated metabolism compared to most reptiles but far short of mammals and birds

[@alexanderdragonheart2036]

Love your work Moth Light Media. Which is why my one complaint about this video is that the example groups you put for the Notsuchians and Neosuchians is incorrect. But other than that good video.

[@dickbutte9471]

Interior crocodile alligator, I drive a Chevrolet movie theater

[@rudyardgross1153]

I’d love to see a video on land crocodiles of Australia and New Caledonia

[@PlainsPup]

6:10 - Based on analysis of preserved collagen, the South American notoungulates and litopterns have been found to be true ungulates, related to the perissodactyls (horses, rhinos, and tapirs).

[@abbeyhall4624]

great commentary without being sensationalised or OTT. plain speaking and easy to understand. fascinating stuff.

[@michaelyu2744]

1:56 important note, those are called dyrosaurids, not to be confused with the dinosaurs like Dryosaurus.

[@Gingerbreadley]

Every extinction the crocodiles give it another run. It’s kinda sad they fail every time. Turns out Hip joints are important

[@keion_arknights]

They hardly fail. Quinkana was around up to 40,000 years ago. The era of no terrestrial crocs is more of an anomaly than anything in the cenozoic era. Barinasuchus was the largest terrestrial predator since the dinosaurs.

[@Gingerbreadley]

@@keion_arknights I mean they do fail. They always get out competed once something with a better hip structure comes about. It can be dogs cats or dinosaurs but it happens.

[@keion_arknights]

@@Gingerbreadley Watch the video. The competed directly with mammals and birds. During the triassic they were the premier apex predators while dinosaurs took the backseat. They evolved their own version of upright hip sockets where the socket stuck out rather than the femur. It's not exactly a rare occurrence, upright postures are adopted all the time, warm blooded-ness might be the most basal state of crocodilians to begin with. The current cold blooded water dwelling crocs being the only crocs are an anomaly. You have a misunderstanding of the timescales at play here, their constant rises to dominance aren't flukes.

[@Gingerbreadley]

@@keion_arknights of course they aren’t flukes they are the largest surviving predators so they try to compete. 5 or 60 million years it doesn’t matter they eventually get outcompeted and pushed out of the niche they took over with their head start in size by whatever the rising star is. Their socket sticking out couldn’t compete and was eventually surpassed. The less competitive the environment such as South America and Australia the longer they can hold that niche. This isn’t some negative. Creatures come and go. They have a flaw so they don’t really work out in the long term. Sure you could run it back in the future after another mass extinction but I see no reason to believe it would go any different. Early domination followed by a slow gradual replacing until only the aquatic forms are left.

[@keion_arknights]

@@Gingerbreadley "Their socket sticking out couldn't compete" Yeah dude, which volcanic eruptions and rapid climate change, no it couldn't. South America similarly to climate change, not "hip sockets."

[@Shmitty2023]

Thank you, the content is greatly appreciated!!!

[@acephas3]

Good content and I’m glad I subscribed.

[@sockmonkey6666]

In the reptile/dinosuar/crocodile types, the spine can flex side-to-side to some extent, but not up and down, so it couldn't be used to assist in running quadrupedally with upright limbs. So anything that wanted to be quick over a significant distance would need to become bipedal.

[@Palpo_pics]

I was just watching a previous moth light video, and when i refreshed the channel, a new video!! A very nice surprise!

[@kaysmith8992]

It's a pity Walking with Beasts' South America episode focused on sabre-toothed cats instead of the ruling archosaurs.

[@thenormaldino3404]

Love your videos! It always so calming and so educational at the same time!👍🥰

[@neveraskedforahandle]

Feeding the algorithm.

[@OLAUUBER]

Keep grinding

[@charlesjmouse]

I was aware there have been several lineages of 'running crocs' but these running croc-alikes had escaped me. Thank you. They put me in mind of some of the basal archosaurs that were 'knocking around' prior to the dinosaurs really taking off.

[@cashel1111]

i swear i watch every video of yours thinking that its so short i can do it while doing something else, the every time i am stunned by the information and wishing it could go for longer very good content, and thanks for keeping the language understandable from almost all perspectives!

[@ChavaYang]

2nd video I watched now. You gained a new subscriber.

[@thebigchimpanski4783]

The Crocodilimorphs are infinitely fascinating.

[@pseudoliparisswirei9137]

Insane video, keep up the great work

[@pokemon1895]

Cool video. Thanks for sharing.

[@veggieboyultimate]

The Sebecids were in a way very similar to the rauisuchids of the Triassic. Both appeared after mass extinctions, both were part of the crocodilian family, and both were top predators of their environments.

[@eggrollsoup]

wow, nice connection

[@gregoryfantaski3107]

favorite youtube page

[@da_ostrichyeet7999]

Man Barinasuchus was so cool, literally reminds me of Postosuchus.

[@chimerasuchus]

A similar land croc was Razanandrongobe, who lived during the reign of the dinosaurs.

[@_Solaris]

My favorite paleo channel.

[@demos113]

Nice work again. 🙂

[@jimthedinoman5765]

Someone needs to make a documentary about south America during the cenozoic. Just imagine the general public reaction to some of this stuff.

[@novedad4468]

About land dwelling crocodiles. Do u think we could get a video about the smaller mekosuchians that lived in Pacific islands as predators before human arrival? Some of them might have even been arboreal...👀

[@ahsdjsdgfhjgdhhhhhhh]

i identify as a crocodile

[@Machingonjoe]

Excellent video

[@TheFreshSpam]

Top video as always

[@Xnaut314]

Ancient Cenozoic South America has one of the strangest and unique biodiversities in all of paleontology. It really is unfortunate that only a fraction of its original endemic taxa managed to survive into the present and that its species aren't more widely known by the public.

[@Aris0977010]

I love your videos!!

[@ST-ly8uf]

OGRESUCHUS LOOKS ADORABLE!!!

[@ArleneDKatz]

Thank you

[@FyionHard]

Good job man

[@bunlocke]

Waking up to a notification from this channel is the best.

[@Colesalad]

I was worried when thursday came and you didn't post, but now all is well. Thanks.

[@chancegivens9390]

Very good video!

[@DrizzyDrayg]

best channel on youtube

[@solomonthefoolish]

I always think of the bayous of my family when I think of crocodiles. Having said that, I am fully terrified of the concept of being in a pirogue and seeing a polar bear sized land croc on the shoreline and then more of the bastards in the water all at once. Not germaine to the video I know but I figured I'd share that lil bit of night.are fuel with you guys lol

[@brucetownsend691]

❤️ Love this channel.

[@atak_draws]

1:57 those are Dyrosaurids not Dryosaurids. Dryosauridae are ornithischian dinosaurs and Dyrosauridae are the animals you were referring to.

[@wolfgangjasper9336]

🤓

[@qara_ch]

It's tragic that, after surviving as an independent lineage of suchia all the way back from the jurassic, they went extict just 10 million years before the present

[@terryjav1]

New Caledonia 3000ya...

[@CalebKallimanis-le4zz]

Can’t wait for the next video!

[@jurassic_hobbyonmyaltaccou3878]

This guy makes fire content 🔥

[@Anaesify]

I don't even have like a mild greater interest in dinosaurs or palaeontology and yet mothlight vids always have me enraptured

[@monsoon_magic2874]

Superb episode. Can we have one on the Pantodonta?

[@sassa82]

Candy to my ears!

[@davidrodriguez011]

Amazing video

[@mgaus]

More like this, please.

[@Zach-ku6eu]

When are you going to finally compile a playlist?!

[@yongbinzhang4380]

Underated channel!

[@kimbratton9620]

I love these videos I'm definitely going to watch all of them!!!😎😀

[@davidbuck6976]

Are you doing a video on the much more recent Quinkana?

[@vassa1972]

Interesting video

[@Fede_99]

8:45 Mekosuchines: excuse me

[@Kettvnen]

2:05 you got their suborders flipped, neosuchia includes modern crocodiles but notosuchia includes sebecidae

[@UnwantedGhost1]

Dogo Argentino & every other dog breeds along with Jaguars would have stood no chance of being apex predators with these terrifying reptiles.

[@saltaroscas6098]

Iberosuchus was not only from spain but also from portugal and probably france. Anw very good video👍

[@paulbasaur]

very cool

[@lordmike9331]

Remember kids, after every extinction crocodiles must attempt to be land predators

[@dr.zoidberg8666]

Succeeding for a fat 55 million years in a row seems like a pretty good 'attempt' to me.

[@lordmike9331]

@@dr.zoidberg8666 sometimes an) attempt succeeds

[@chimerasuchus]

@@dr.zoidberg8666 They lasted even longer than that. There were large, predatory land crocs during the Mesozoic era as well. Additionally, after the sebecids became extinct, Quinkana was still around in Australia.

[@frostyglass3738]

The voice is a breath of fresh air

[@chheinrich8486]

Could have talked a bit about the other land crocs of the paleosoic, like bovirosuchus in europe and quikania in australia

[@billyr2904]

In new caledonia, their existed a small tree-dweling crocodylomorph, that only died out 3000 years ago, most like dying out after the first humans arrived on the island. So terrestrial crocodylomorphs only went extinct a fue thousand years ago, with Oceania being another place where they survived, up until the very recent past.

[@Polosatiy_Varan]

They may still exist in New Guinea.

[@sonyvalencia]

His voice is so relaxing.

[@LuCa8_]

Yea Its always been so fascinating how crocodylomorphs since their appearance after mass extinctions would then grow into being either the dominant predators or become even more terrestrial just tontura lose those niches but then evolve into them again lmao.

[@TenOrbital]

See Chimerasuchus' channel. He has many vids on terrestrial Crocodyliformes.

[@TenOrbital]

kzbin.info/door/9jQRxOuZ1zfZr4yiaTRonA

[@JuicyJam]

DRINKING GAME!!! Take a sip of your drink when there is: - a time lineage - a genetic tree - a new illustration - a size comparison Take a shot when: - the narrator says "however"