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| What if land crocodiles outcompeted mammals? | |
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| Topic Started: May 21 2010, 10:39 PM (2,594 Views) | |
| Pando | May 21 2010, 10:39 PM Post #1 |
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Obey or I'll send you to the moon
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Land crocodylomorphs like Protosuchia and Notosuchia were the main competitors of mammals during the Cretaceous. At the KT extinction the mammals survived and the Protosuchians and Notosuchians died off. But what if it was the other way around? I might be interested into turning this into a project if enough of you are interested. --EDIT-- Birds are also extinct to allow the crocodylomorphs to take over the world in the Paleocene. Edited by Pando, May 22 2010, 01:40 AM.
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| Pando | May 22 2010, 09:35 PM Post #31 |
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Obey or I'll send you to the moon
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What about that the asteroid was more devastating, and during the late Cretaceous the crocodylomorphs had diversified enough that they survived and mammals died? |
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| Practically Uninformed | May 22 2010, 09:37 PM Post #32 |
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Informed enough to care
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That might be stretching it a bit from the original concept of crocodilians outcompeting mammals. Besides, what's wrong with birds and crocodiles sharing the planet? |
| You may be a king or a lil' street sweeper, but sooner or later, you'll dance with the reaper! | |
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| Pando | May 22 2010, 09:39 PM Post #33 |
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Obey or I'll send you to the moon
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FINE! |
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| Practically Uninformed | May 22 2010, 09:40 PM Post #34 |
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Informed enough to care
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Yay. |
| You may be a king or a lil' street sweeper, but sooner or later, you'll dance with the reaper! | |
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| Toad of Spades | May 22 2010, 10:27 PM Post #35 |
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Clorothod
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Here's some ideas. - Burrowing mole-like crocodilians with small eyes and nostrils that seal up and face backwards. - Burrowing crocodilians that live like trapdoor spiders. - Herbivorous crocodilians with ceratopsian-like teeth and jaws. - Bear-like omnivorous crocodilians. - Predatory crocodilians with a heavy solid skull, powerful legs, a thick neck, and a very large keratinous horn jutting out from the front of the snout. They use this to ram into large or larger prey to cause massive bleeding and horrific injuries. Can also feed on smaller prey. - Tundra dwelling crocodiles that have scales that are hollow for insulation, yet with a very strong structure. - Filter feeding whale-like crocodilians. Migrate to polar regions for - Huge predatory crocodilians that are amphibious seasonal polar dwellers. They feed on a wide variety of aquatic and terrestrial prey. They usually live and feed in the ocean but can come out on land as well. They come to the polar regions in winter to feed on the whale-like crocodilians. They can plow through solid ice using extremely strong, solid bony scutes covering their entire bodies as well as a bony protrusion on the lower jaw. They use this to easily navigate through the ice sheets as well as the pursuit of their major prey. They kill their prey with their chin, their tail, claws, or their teeth. They usually come on to land to rest or find terrestrial prey if the water they are currently inhabiting is low on prey. Survival rate is low among young as a population control and they have a long lifespan. Here's what they could look like and function. [utube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfyn6IRpmFM[/utube] Edited by Toad of Spades, May 22 2010, 10:38 PM.
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Sorry Link, I don't give credit. Come back when you're a little...MMMMMM...Richer. Bread is an animal and humans are %90 aluminum. | |
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| Pando | May 22 2010, 10:41 PM Post #36 |
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Obey or I'll send you to the moon
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If birds survive I'm afraid they'll be to the poles before the crocodylomorphs. |
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| The Dodo | May 23 2010, 05:42 AM Post #37 |
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Prime Specimen
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Maybe they could become endothermic and evolve proto-feather like scales or the hollow scales suggested above. |
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| Pando | May 23 2010, 10:26 AM Post #38 |
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Obey or I'll send you to the moon
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They could just develop hair-like structures. After all, it's not just a mammalian. Pterosaurs, ancestors of dinosaurs (before the feather fully evolved, maybe not separate and instead a common ancestor of pterosaurs and dinosaurs), and tarantulas. |
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| Practically Uninformed | May 23 2010, 11:25 AM Post #39 |
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Informed enough to care
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Would they be so quick as to do that? |
| You may be a king or a lil' street sweeper, but sooner or later, you'll dance with the reaper! | |
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| Pando | May 23 2010, 03:51 PM Post #40 |
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Obey or I'll send you to the moon
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I'd say that with the Oligocene cooling there is plenty of time for haired ones to evolve. But endotherms could always evolve without hair, and the poles go to the birds. |
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| Practically Uninformed | May 23 2010, 03:55 PM Post #41 |
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Informed enough to care
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Polar hawks will be awesome to see, indeed. Would the crocodilians end up evolving parallel with dinosaurian body types? |
| You may be a king or a lil' street sweeper, but sooner or later, you'll dance with the reaper! | |
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| Pando | May 23 2010, 04:07 PM Post #42 |
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Obey or I'll send you to the moon
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I do plan for hadrosaur-like herbivorous crocodylomorphs, but not all. I mean, look at its goofy teeth!![]() The carnivores would mostly be like this though: ![]() Come on, that's wicked awesome. There can be beaked ones from ones like this: And pig-like ones from this: ![]() More herbivores can come from this: And then there's armadillosuchus: |
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| Practically Uninformed | May 23 2010, 04:09 PM Post #43 |
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Informed enough to care
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You sure they would evolve into the same forms as had died out 200 million years ago? |
| You may be a king or a lil' street sweeper, but sooner or later, you'll dance with the reaper! | |
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| Pando | May 23 2010, 04:11 PM Post #44 |
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Obey or I'll send you to the moon
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You mean the aetosaurs and rauisuchians? They were wicked, just look at this! |
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| Practically Uninformed | May 23 2010, 04:17 PM Post #45 |
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Informed enough to care
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I know, but still, you should keep in mind that the notosuchids aren't the raisuchids; they'll evolve into very different things, utilizing completely independent features and behaviors. |
| You may be a king or a lil' street sweeper, but sooner or later, you'll dance with the reaper! | |
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1:53 PM Jul 11