#A ‘terror crocodile’ with teeth the ‘size of bananas’ once roamed the US: study

To borrow a quote from Sisqó — these prehistoric crocs got “dumps like a truck.”

Paleontologists are revealing new details about an ancient reptile described as having been the size of a city bus — growing up to 33 feet in length — and possessing teeth “the size of bananas.”

Species of the Deinosuchus genus, which literally means “terror crocodile,” according to study authors, once roamed the United States. During the Deinosuchus’ reign between 75 and 82 million years ago, the country was split by the Western Interior Seaway, an ocean which once covered many Southern and Midwestern states, as well as parts of central Canada and the eastern portion of Mexico.

D. hatcheri and D. riograndensis habitats could be found out west of the Cretaceous sea, from the American Northwest down to Northern Mexico. Meanwhile, their East Coast brethren, D. schwimmeri, made their home along the Atlantic coastal plains, from the Northeast down to the Gulf.

“Deinosuchus was a giant that must have terrorized dinosaurs that came to the water’s edge to drink,” said Dr. Adam Cossette, study co-author from the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine at Arkansas State University. “Until now, the complete animal was unknown. These new specimens we’ve examined reveal a bizarre, monstrous predator with teeth the size of bananas.”

Their findings on the Cretacecous crocodylians, published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, described a diet of just about anything, given their ferocious predatory stature. They were even known to dine on their reptilian dinosaur cousins.

In fact, the Deinosuchus are more closely related to an alligator than a croc, researchers noted, but their outsized skulls were unique to both creatures. They described a snout which is long and broad, with a bulbous nose that isn’t seen in other crocodylians, including other extinct species.

“It had two large holes . . . present at the tip of the snout in front of the nose,” said Cossette. “These holes are unique to Deinosuchus and we do not know what they were for, further research down the line will hopefully help us unpick this mystery and we can learn further about this incredible creature.”

Although the Deinosuchus lived alongside dinosaurs, their race disappeared even prior to the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event, which ultimately brought the reign of dinosaurs to an end.

“It was a strange animal,” said co-author Christopher Brochu, from the University of Iowa, in a statement. “It shows that crocodylians are not ‘living fossils’ that haven’t changed since the age of dinosaurs. They’ve evolved just as dynamically as any other group.”