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Slouching out of Gondwana

The ancestor of today's crocodiles was probably Australian.

Modern crocodiles and alligators may be able to trace their roots back to Australia, say palaeontologists who have dug up the scaly beasts' most primitive known relative near a remote outback town.

Read the whole story here .

Posted by Nicola Jones on June 14, 2006
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Beautifully preserved fossil was buried quickly before rotting and being scavenged. Points to watery catastrophe (it’s hard to bury a crocodile all at once). Cretaceous in Australia represents sediment deposited as the floodwaters were nearing their peak. (http://biblicalgeology.net/content/view/30/) Receding floodwaters carved the landscape.

Posted by: Tas Walker | June 14, 2006 02:04 PM

From the article:

'"The thing that separates crocodiles from other things is their ease of walking on land, but with limbs that are still flexible enough for swimming," Salisbury says.'

Salisbury must never have seen a crocodile (or alligator) swim -- they don't use their "limbs" for swimming (keeping them closely at their sides for an efficient stream-lined profile), but propel themselves through the water with a lateral undulating movement of their huge tail.

Posted by: Bob Faulkner | June 14, 2006 04:43 PM

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