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Book Review: SuperCroc and the Origin of Crocodiles - Page 2

© Beverly Eschberger

The chapter "Monsters and Midgets: The Crocodyliforms" covers the time period from the Early Jurassic Period (195 to 140 million years ago) to the present. In the Early Jurassic Period, large terrestrial (living on land) crocodiles like Deinosuchus competed with large carnivorous dinosaurs. Perhaps as a result of this competition, the crocodiles moved to freshwater environments and later into marine (ocean) environments. This chapter also shows how the crocodyliforms change the position of their choanae (internal nostrils) and the shape of their vertebrae over time. Crocodiles have experimented with a variety of sizes "from monsters to midgets" and lifestyles, developing different shapes of teeth that allowed them to hunt in different ways and to feed on different types of prey.

The chapter "The Last Extinction" discusses the relationship between our extant crocodiles and humans. Captive breeding programs in India have helped to save gharials from extinction, and crocodile farms allow leather goods to produced from crocodile skins without poaching of wild animals. Crocodiles are still in danger from humans, mostly through pollution and habitat destruction, but also through hunting and being caught in fishing nets.

I found SuperCroc and the Origin of Crocodiles to be a very enjoyable and informative book for young readers and adults alike. The book is a great read, and I would also recommend it for public and school libraries as a reference book. The only complaint that I had with SuperCroc was that it was too short -- I would have liked to have seen even more information about Sarcosuchus, other extinct crocodiles and modern crocodiles. Nevertheless, the book is a great introduction to crocodiles for budding young paleontologists and for anyone who wants to learn more about the crocodiles that continue to swim on our planet.

SuperCroc and the Origin of Crocodiles by Christopher Sloan, published by the National Geographic Society, Washington D. C., 2002

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