The Evolutionary Dead-End Experiments of Crocodiles
It was at this moment that Steve the fish realised he had made a dire mistake (Image via Andy Murch) Crocodiles are NOT living fossils... They may look ancient, with a smattering of characteristics that make them look like non-avian dinosaurs, but as we dive back throughout the Mesozoic and come up for air in the murky waters of the late Triassic (roughly 230 million years ago), we find that the distant ancestors of the creatures we refer to as the heavily armored “ Crocodylia ” (a group that includes all “true” crocodiles, caimans, alligators and gharials) look so completely different from their modern counterparts. Many early crocodylimorphs (a term that is used to include modern and long-extinct cousins of crocodilians) were completely terrestrial and include the ~230 million year old “ Trialestes ”, an animal that was originally interpreted as a basal dinosaur, due to its “un-crocodilian” upright stance. Thanks to the fossil record, we have an