{"id":70308,"date":"2024-07-18T16:51:37","date_gmt":"2024-07-18T16:51:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/crocodile-on-steroids-scientists-identify-ancient-swamp-king-reptile"},"modified":"2024-07-18T17:22:46","modified_gmt":"2024-07-18T17:22:46","slug":"crocodile-on-steroids-scientists-identify-ancient-swamp-king-reptile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/crocodile-on-steroids-scientists-identify-ancient-swamp-king-reptile","title":{"rendered":"Crocodile \u2018on Steroids\u2019: Scientists Identify Ancient \u2018Swamp King\u2019 Reptile"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>The formidable reptile feasted on prehistoric kangaroos and wombats in Australia\u2019s north-eastern state of Queensland during the Pliocene Epoch, between 5.33 and 2.58 million years ago, according to a new study.<\/p>\n

Australian palaeontologists discovered a new species of prehistoric crocodile dubbed a \u201cswamp king\u201d after they took a closer look at a well-preserved fossil skull that was unearthed in the 1980s near the remote town of Chinchilla in Queensland.<\/p>\n

The ancient reptile-related study by PhD student Jorgo Ristevski and his colleagues at the University of Queensland was published in the journal PeerJ earlier this week.<\/p>\n

The new species was officially named Paludirex Vincenti in honour of the late explorer Jeff Vincent, who originally found the fossilised skull of the prehistoric predator.<\/p>\n

Ristevski told PeerJ that the lakes, rivers, and swamps of south-eastern Queensland \u201cwere once very dangerous because of Paludirex\u201d, which preyed on giant prehistoric kangaroos and wombats.<\/p>\n

The researcher described the crocodile as one of \u201cthe top predators in southeastern Queensland during the Pliocene Epoch, between 5.33 and 2.58 million years ago\u201d.<\/p>\n

“If you were to imagine Paludirex \u041cincenti in life, it would probably have resembled a [modern] Indo-Pacific crocodile on steroids!” Ristevski said, adding that \u201cthe intimidating croc\u201d could grow to at least five metres.<\/p>\n

According to Ristevski, he realised the fact that he had managed to discover the new species as he worked on his thesis, exploring the fossilised skull with the help of CT scans which helped him reconstruct the skull structure.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. The formidable reptile feasted on prehistoric kangaroos and wombats in Australia\u2019s north-eastern state of Queensland during the Pliocene Epoch, between 5.33 and 2.58 million years ago, according to a new study. Australian palaeontologists discovered a new species of prehistoric crocodile dubbed a \u201cswamp king\u201d after they took a closer look at a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":70307,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-70308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nCrocodile \u2018on Steroids\u2019: Scientists Identify Ancient \u2018Swamp King\u2019 Reptile - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The formidable reptile feasted on prehistoric kangaroos and wombats in Australia\u2019s north-eastern state of Queensland dur ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/crocodile-on-steroids-scientists-identify-ancient-swamp-king-reptile\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Crocodile \u2018on Steroids\u2019: Scientists Identify Ancient \u2018Swamp King\u2019 Reptile\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The formidable reptile feasted on prehistoric kangaroos and wombats in Australia\u2019s north-eastern state of Queensland dur ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/crocodile-on-steroids-scientists-identify-ancient-swamp-king-reptile\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-07-18T16:51:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-07-18T17:22:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/07\/sm_1721310687.045192.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/crocodile-on-steroids-scientists-identify-ancient-swamp-king-reptile#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/crocodile-on-steroids-scientists-identify-ancient-swamp-king-reptile\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Crocodile \u2018on Steroids\u2019: Scientists Identify Ancient \u2018Swamp King\u2019 Reptile\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-07-18T16:51:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-07-18T17:22:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/crocodile-on-steroids-scientists-identify-ancient-swamp-king-reptile\"},\"wordCount\":264,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/crocodile-on-steroids-scientists-identify-ancient-swamp-king-reptile#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/07\/sm_1721310687.045192.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/crocodile-on-steroids-scientists-identify-ancient-swamp-king-reptile#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/crocodile-on-steroids-scientists-identify-ancient-swamp-king-reptile\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/crocodile-on-steroids-scientists-identify-ancient-swamp-king-reptile\",\"name\":\"Crocodile \u2018on Steroids\u2019: Scientists Identify Ancient \u2018Swamp King\u2019 Reptile - 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