It may have been the greatest predator/scavenger of the Mesozoic Era.
It lived 110 million years ago in what is now sub-Saharan Africa. It was 40 feet long and probably weighed 10 tons. The skull alone was six feet long. In comparison, the world-famous Tyrannosaurus rex was also 40 feet long, but weighed a mere six tons.
Click here to read about Sarcosuchus imperator. Watch the 2-hour documentary on NBC Sunday night at 7PM Eastern and Pacific, 6PM Central.
Actually, I used to have a small one, but I flushed it down the toilet after it started to get bigger. Not more than about 20 feet or so it wasn’t full grown yet, but I’m sure if you tromp through the sewers of Omaha he’s still down there!
They oughtta have the Crocodile Hunter and Crocodile Dundee as guests on that TV show. I bet CH wouldn’t try to wrestle that thing.
A life-size replica of the SuperCroc is now on exhibit at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County until January 27, 2002. It will visit other museums, so maybe most of will have a chance to see SuperCroc.
I find this fellow to be pretty damned scary, too. Unfortunately, the most complete specimen we have consists of only a skull (which measures about 6’ 6"). The 50’ length given in the link assumes proportions similar to modern-day crocodiles.
Not that anyone is interested in such minutiae, but Sarcosuchus was not a true crocodile (it is a “mesosuchian”, or “middle crocodile”, many of which were wholely aquatic), whereas Deinosuchus was (being a member of the “eusuchians”, or “true crocodiles”).