Super Croc

By Brady S.

  Sarcosuchus imperator (flesh crocodile emperor) also known as super croc, was a giant crocodile that walked the earth about 110 million years ago.  Super croc was 37-40 feet long.  That is twice the size of the largest living crocodile on record.  Super croc weighed 17,500 lbs, which is 10 times the weight of the heaviest crocodile living today. 

During the 1940’s and 1950’s, a paleontologist from France named Alfred Felix de Lapparent found armor plates and fossilized teeth of this giant crocodile.  He found the fossils while on a mission to the Sahara.  This was the first evidence of Super Croc’s fossils.  The discovery site was in the country of Niger. 

A group of people went on an expedition to Niger in the year 2000.  During that expedition, they found about 50% of the skeleton of super croc.  Many technicians and students cleaned the bones, and believe it or not, it still took one whole year to clean all of the bones thoroughly. 

Super croc was known to have eaten dinosaurs.  It sure sounds pretty strange but it is true.

Citations

Web Sites

Project Exploration. "Super Croc." at 
<http://www.supercroc.com/index.htm> (April, 2003).

Images

All photographs and clipart used on this page from "Microsoft Office Design Gallery Live" <http://dgl.microsoft.com/?CAG=1> Images free for non-profit and personal use. (December-March, 2003).