Crocodylus anthropophagus
Name:
Crocodylus anthropophagus
(Human eating crocodile).
Phonetic: Croc-oh-dil-us an-fro-po-fag-us.
Named By: Christopher A. Brochu, Jackson Njau,
Robert J. Blumenschine and Llewellyn D. Densmore - 2010.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Crocodylomorpha, Crocodylia, Crocodylidae, Crocodylinae.
Species: C. anthropophagus.
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Uncertain but estimated between 7 and
7.5 meters long.
Known locations: Tanzania - Olduvai Gorge.
Time period: Late Gelasian of the Pleistocene.
Fossil representation: Partial skull and post
cranial remains.
Crocodylus
anthropophagus is a species of extinct crocodile
that is part
of the
same genus as some of today’s living crocodiles such as the Nile
(Crocodylus niloticus), Siamese (Crocodylus
siamensis) and
American (Crocodylus acutus) crocodiles amongst
some others. C.
anthropophagus however lived in Africa during the
Plio-Pleistocene era
when early hominids like Homo habilis and Paranthropus
boisei lived in
the area. Additionally some hominid fossils have been found with
tooth marks that seem to have been left by crocodiles, something
which led to the creation of the species name ‘anthropophagus’
which literally translated to English means ‘human eating’.
Although
the remains of Crocodylus anthropophagus are very
partial and
incomplete, comparison to living crocs has led to size estimates
approaching seven and a half meters long. If correct this would make
C. anthropophagus slightly bigger than the largest
recorded saltwater
crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus), which are
considered to be the
largest living species of crocodile today. This has also led to
suggestion that the tooth marks on hominid remains were left by
juveniles as such large crocodiles would probably leave nothing of
early hominids (which were much smaller than modern humans) for
palaeontologists to later find. Despite this large size however,
C. anthropophagus would have been puny when
compared to truly giant
crocodiles like Purussaurus
from the earlier Miocene, or even
Sarcosuchus
from the Cretaceous.
Although
incomplete, the snout of C. anthropophagus
seems to have been much
deeper than other species of Crocodylus such as the
Nile Crocodile
(C. niloticus). This more robust skull would
have been better
able to withstand the stresses of holding onto more powerful prey,
and likely also allowed for more powerful bite muscles. Including
the fossil evidence of early hominid predation, a picture comes
together where just like crocodiles today smaller juveniles of C.
anthropophagus hunted and killed smaller less powerful
prey, while
the older, bigger and more powerful individuals killed larger and
more powerful animals.
Further reading
- A New Horned Crocodile from the Plio-Pleistocene Hominid Sites at
Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. - PLoS One 5(2). - C. A. Brochu, J. Njau, R.
J. Blumenschine & L. D. Densmore - 2010.
- A new cranium of Crocodylus anthropophagus from Olduvai Gorge,
northern Tanzania. - Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia
(Research in Paleontology and Stratigraphy). 127 (2): 275–295. -
Beatrice Azzar�, Giovanni Boschian, Christopher Brochu, Massimo
Delfino, Dawid Adam Iurino, Jackson Stanley Kimambo, Giorgio Manzi,
Fidelis Taliwawa Masao, Sofia, Menconero, Jackson K Njau &
Marco Cherin - 2021.
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