Batrachopus grandis the Bipedal Cretaceous Crocodile coloring page

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Today's post is a newly discovered ancient crocodile (from the Cretaceous Period) that is called Batrachopus grandis.  It was a  bipedal Cretaceous Period crocodile or crocodilian.   Batrachopus is the Genus name, and grandis is the species name. 


What is so unique about this animal is that it was bipedal.  That means that it walked on two legs, not four.  All modern crocodiles, and we previously thought that pretty much all ancient crocodiles, walked on all four legs.  So the evidence that this animal walked on only its back legs is impressive and quite unique.


Also very impressive, is that this animal lived at the same time as giant predators like the ancestors of Tyrannosaurus rex.  Batrachopus could easily have been prey for a Tyrannosaur. Yet it seems that Batrapchopus was successful at avoiding big predators and finding its own prey.  Batrapchopus grandis was about 3 meters long, or about 10 feet long.  Yet it managed a successful lifestyle in the presence of giant predators.


Crocodilians are related to Tyrannosaurs, but only rather distantly. 
Crocodiles and Theropod dinosaurs had a common ancestor.  Theropods are also the ancestors of birds.  Batrapchopus was NOT a dinosaur.  It was a type of crocodile.  But it DID walk on its two back legs like a Tyrannosaurus. 


Batrapchopus grandis is known from tracks that were found in South Korea.  Other, much smaller species of Batrapchopus have been found in other parts of the world, but this new find seems to have been a MUCH bigger animal.  The footprints measure from between 7-9 inches or 18-24 cm. so paleontologists got the crocodile's size estimate from the size of the tracks.  


In the background, you can see a Tyrannosaurus rex fighting with a Triceratops.  These two dinosaurs were probably not contemporary animals... unless Batrachopus as a species persisted throughout the Cretaceous Period.  The tracks of Batrachopus, a crocodylomorph, were from the Early Cretaceous Period.  While T. rex was from the Late Cretaceous Period. Crocodylomorphs are basically the name given to all types of both aquatic and more terrestrial crocodiles.  
Crocodylomorphs are found over millions of years of Earth's history. 


One final note:  There have been other smaller tracks found in South Korea that were thought to be from Pterosaurs (flying reptiles).  But the new discovery of these tracks showed evidence of crocodile scales on the foot and that helped paleontologists realize that the very similar, but smaller tracks that had been found previously were also from smaller types of Batrachopus and that Pterosaurs probably WERE quadrupeds and when on the ground used their wings as feet along with their back legs. 

Batrapchopus grandis the Bipedal Cretaceous Crocodile