(Phys.org)—Crocodiles are often thought of as living fossils,
remaining unchanged since the time of the dinosaurs. But
scientists have shown this is not always the case and that 150
million years ago, their feeding mechanisms were more similar to
some mammals living today, the killer whales. An international
team led by Dr Mark Young of the University of Edinburgh, and
including Dr Lorna Steel at the Natural History Museum, studied
two species of extinct marine dolphin-like crocodylians,
Dakosaurus maximus and Plesiosuchus manselii. Their research is
published today in the journal PLoS One. Dakosaurus and
Plesiosuchus were among the top predators living in the shallow
seas that covered England around 150 million years ago. Their
fossils were uncovered from Dorset and Cambridgeshire in
England, and Germany. The team reconstructed the skull and teeth
of the two species and then compared them with living marine
mammals and reptiles. Although Dakosaurus and Plesiosuchus had
skulls more similar to the dinosaur T.r