The species was named Deinosuchus schwimmeri in 2020, in recognition of the decades-long contribution to understanding giant prehistoric crocodilians by palaeontologist David Schwimmer (not to be confused with the actor David Schwimmer, who played palaeontologist Ross Geller in Friends).<\/p>\n
D schwimmeri lived in what is now the eastern US during the Late Cretaceous era, reaching roughly the size of a school bus.<\/p>\n
The species is a relative of modern alligators and is known to have fed on a diet of dinosaurs. However, a full skeletal model of the predator had never previously been completed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe scale of the dinosaurs and other creatures that lived during [the Late Cretaceous epoch] is hard to capture in words or pictures.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can tell you that Deinosuchus is 30 feet long, but seeing it is far more impactful,\u201d Rebecca Melsheimer, curatorial co-ordinator at the Tellus Science Museum, said.<\/p>\n
This is an experience our visitors can\u2019t get anywhere else<\/p>\n
Researchers have now completed a replica of the crocodile, commissioned by the museum in Cartersville, \u00adGeorgia, where it has also been installed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe addition of Deinosuchus schwimmeri allows us to provide a more detailed picture of this area\u2019s ecosystem in the Cretaceous period,\u201d Hannah Eisla, director of education at the museum, said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTellus is currently the only museum to have a cast of Deinosuchus schwimmeri, so this is an experience our visitors can\u2019t get anywhere else,\u201d Ms Melsheimer said.<\/p>\n
Scientists used several modern techniques to put the fragmentary fossil evidence of the crocodile into a life-sized, scientifically grounded skeletal model.<\/p>\n
They used high-resolution 3D scans of fossil material to reconstruct the animal\u2019s skeletal framework and distinctive dermal armour.<\/p>\n
The model, according to researchers, represents the most current \u00adscientific understanding of Deinosuchus\u2019s anatomy.<\/p>\n
It provides researchers and the \u00adpublic with a clearer picture of one of the largest predators ever to inhabit North America, they say.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnderstanding dinosaurs\u2019 predatory habits helps us decode some of nature\u2019s greatest survival strategies. By \u00adstudying these ancient apex predators, we are essentially looking back in time to see exactly how life adapted and dominated a changing world,\u201d Dr Schwimmer said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The species was named Deinosuchus schwimmeri in 2020, in recognition of the decades-long contribution to understanding giant prehistoric…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[61,60,82,812],"class_list":["post-290013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}