Prehistoric crocodiles walked on two hind legs, study suggests

Footprints found in modern-day South Korea that was earlier thought to have been made by Pterosaurs instead belonged to a 13-foot crocodile that walked Earth 110 to 120 million years ago, which proves that ancient crocodiles walked on two hind legs. Contrary to modern-day reptiles that move on all four legs, ancient creatures' locomotion resembled that of disaurs, according to a scientific report published in journal Nature. 

Footprints of gigantic creature were found at Jinju Formation in modern-day South Korea, a rich archaeological site that led to discovery of ancient species of lizards, spiders, and tiny raptors dating back 120 million years by a team of researchers from China, Australia, and US. According to study, footprints were made by three-meter (10-foot) long crocodile named Batrachopus Grandis, described as "a crocodile balancing on a tight-rope," according to Kyung Soo Kim, a researcher at Chinju National University of Education.

According to research, Batrachopus Grandis, ancient crocodile, weighing nearly 1,000 pounds, had razor-sharp teeth and measured approximately four meters (13.1 feet). “When combined with lack of any tail-drag marks, it became clear that se creatures were moving bipedally,” Kim said. y were moving in same way as many disaurs, but footprints were t made by disaurs,” Kim explained in study. “Disaurs and ir bird descendants walk on ir toes. Crocodiles walk on flat of ir feet leaving clear heel impressions as humans do.” 

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"Bone-crushing" 7-foot long crocodile

Apart from crocodile, researchers also discovered footprints disaurs, mammals, and frogs from ancient era. Earlier, in February, a "bone-crushing" 7-foot long crocodile "T. Rex of its time" that walked on four legs and ran on its hind legs over 230 million years ago was discovered in Brazil by scientists. Furr, a 15-foot prehistoric crocodile that lived 180 million years ago was discovered in September 2019.  

Suggestive of bipedal locomotion

"Fossil crocodile tracks are quite rare in Asia, so finding an abundance of nearly one hundred footprints was extraordinary," University of Queensland paleontologist Dr. Anthony Romilio added in statement. “ footprints support strong consensus that pterosaurs were obligate quadrupeds, t bipeds," researchers wrote in study's abstract. “ unexpected discovery of trackways so suggestive of bipedal locomotion by Cretaceous crocodylomorphs has implications bearing directly on long-standing and controversial debates about gait of pterosaurs,” researchers wrote.  

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(Ims: Nature)