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Crocodiles Old & New

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Museum directors have always had a good sense of what will bring the public to their doors. Some of those things seem to hold perennial interest, like dinosaurs and their present-day relations, the crocodilians.

In the years I worked at the Springfield Science Museum in Massachusetts, I was amazed to learn that beneath the cramped and difficult-to-work-around second-floor aquarium was an alligator pit. No kidding -- live alligators in New England!

This was surely a captivating treat for the visitors in those decades past. However, from what I heard it was a nightmare for the staff (yes, there were escapes) and certainly it was no picnic for the animals. I'm glad, for the sake of all parties involved, that our knowledge base, and our sensibilities, have evolved considerably since then.

When many of us think crocs these days, Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin springs to mind. In the last few years, the Aussie star of Animal Planet programming has successfully combined his personal dedication to reptile conservation with his unique brand of showmanship to deliver some solid education along with outrageous wildlife thrills. But the biggest news in croc science trumps even Irwin's close calls.

A year ago, University of Chicago vertebrate paleontologist Paul C. Sereno and his colleagues unearthed in Africa the 110-million-year-old remnants of five super-crocs. The nearly five-foot-long skull indicates these beasts grew to the length of a school bus and weighed eight metric tons. It is likely that Super-Croc ate dinosaurs for lunch. He is named Sarcosuchus imperator, - emperor of the flesh-eating crocodiles.

If you will be in the Los Angeles area between November 16, 2001, and January 27, 2002, you can meet SuperCroc eyeball-to-eye socket as his 40-foot fossil makes its debut at The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

If you can't be there (even if you can), the National Geographic Channel will air the documentary, SuperCroc, scheduled to premiere Sunday, December 9 (please check your local listings for the time). The show will highlight characteristics of modern crocodiles and how they might relate to the giant prehistoric croc, including parenting skills, bite force and intelligence.

Museums that regularly feature alligator and crocodile exhibits include the Miami Museum of Science, and the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida. Check out their great Herpetology Page for more info and pictures.

Another neat web feature is Discovery Online's Ultimate Guide: Crocodiles with videos, an interactive croc and a question-and-answer section. For more on the giant crocodile discovery, click over to the BBC World Service for The dinosaur eating super-croc.

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