Study reveals a secret to their longevity

Most people think of crocodiles as living fossils – opposite the unchanged, prehistoric relics that have ruled the most beautiful parts of the world for millions of years. But their evolutionary history tells a different story, according to new research led by the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) and the University of Utah.

Crocodiles were surviving members of the 230 million years under the name Crocodylomorphs, a group that includes live crocodiles (ie crocodiles, alligators and Ghariials) and their many extinct relatives. Crocodile ancestors persisted through two mass extinction eventsA feat that requires evolutionary agility to adapt to the quickly changed world.

The authors of the study found that one secret of crocodile longevity is their extremely flexible lifestyle, both in what they eat and in the habitat in which they receive it.

“Many groups of closely related to crocodiles were more diverse, more abundant and showed different ecology, but they all disappeared except these few generalist crocodiles who live today,” said Keegan Melstr, a leading author and assistant professor at the UCO, which was a study by a doctoral student at the University.

“The extinction and survival are two sides of the same coin. Through all mass extinction, some groups manage to persist and diversify. What can we learn by studying deeper evolutionary patterns that these events have given?”

The country has experienced five mass extinction in its history. Experts claim that we live through the sixth, guided by destroying habitats, invasive species and a change in climate. Identifying traits that enhance survival during planetary turns can help scientists and conservators today protect vulnerable species.

Historically speaking, the mammal field considered the children of a poster to understand the mass survival of extinction, praising their general nutrition and the ability to progress in different ecological niches. Despite their resistance, the research has mainly ignored the crocodilomorph.

Work, published in the magazine Paleontologyis the first to reconstruct the food ecology of crocodilomorphs to determine the characteristics that have helped in some groups to persevere and progress through two mass extinction-Triassic, about 201.4 million years ago (MA) and extremely chart, about 66 m.

“There is a danger of trying to draw conclusions from millions of years ago and directly apply it to preservation. We have to be careful,” said co-authored by Randy Irmis, curator of the Paleontology in the Natural History Museum of Utah and a professor at the UDA Department of Geology and Geophysics.

“If people study mammals and reptiles and find the same patterns compared to the survival of extinction, we may have predicted that species with a general diet can do better. This information helps us predict, but it is unlikely that we will ever be able to choose which kind of species to survive.”

A hidden past of an alternative lifestyle

Live crocodiles are known for being semi-linguistic generalists who succeed in environments like a lake, river or swamp, waiting to ambush undoubtedly prey. They are picky, they are not.

Young people will jerk down at anything, from Tadpol, insects or crabs before graduating to higher prices, such as fish, deer for babies or even colleagues CROCS. However, the uniform lifestyle of today’s crocodiles mask the enormous diversity of food ecologies in which they have passed through crocodilomorphs.

During the late triage period (237–201.4 ma), pseudosuchia, a wider evolutionary group that includes early crocodilomorfe and many other extinct vines, ruled the earth. The earliest crocodilomorphs were creatures of small and medium -sized creatures that were rare in their ecosystems and were carnivores that mostly ate small animals.

In contrast, other pseudosuchian groups dominated on land, occupied a wide range of environmental roles and showed dizzy diversity of body shapes and sizes.

Despite their dominance, after hitting the ultimate triage extinction, they did not survive the non-crocodilomorphic pseudosuchians. While the hyper-carnivor crocodilomorphs seemed to have disappeared, the terrestrial generals went through. The authors assume that this ability to eat almost all allowed them to survive, while so many other groups were extinct.

“After that, it’s a banana,” Melstrom said. “Water hyperkarnivori, terrestrial generals, terrestrial hyperkarnivors, terrestrial herbivores – cricodilomorphs have developed a huge number of ecological roles at the time of dinosaurs.”

Something happened during a period of late chalk that set up crocodilemorfes on the fall. The lines specializing in different ecologies have started to disappear, even earthly generals.

To the ultimate event of mass extinction (accentuated by a meteor that killed Neavian dinosaurus), Most survivors are semi -Aquatic generalists and a group of water carnivores. Today’s 26 types of living crocodiles are almost all semi -quit generalists.

Behind the smile of the crocodile

How do scientists analyze food on multi -million dollar menus? They analyze the form of fossilized teeth and skulls to get the basis of the animal’s diet. The jaw leaning with tiny knives probably sliced ​​and pierced the meat.

A skinny mortar -like grill probably broke herbal tissue. The shape of the skull dictates how the animal moves the mouth, providing a mark on its eating habits. Determining ancient animal diet reveals where to hunt it, which authors call food ecology.

It was a massive endeavor. The authors visited zoo and paleontological museum collections in seven countries and four continents to get fossil specimens They needed. They examined the skulls of 99 extinct types of crocodilomorphs and 20 living crocodile species, creating a fossil set of data that lasts 230 million years evolutionary history.

Researchers have previously built a database Living non -codes for comparison, including 89 mammals and 47 lizards. The samples represented a number of nutritional ecologies, from strict carnivores to the obligation of herbivores and a wide number of skull forms.

As a semi -tousing ambush, today’s crocodiles generally take similar environmental roles in many different environments. They still have an incredibly flexible child, perhaps the rest of their deeply diverse evolutionary past.

For critically endangered Crocodiles Like the Gharial from the Himalayan base or the Cuban crocodile wetland of Zavat in the country, nutritional flexibility can give them the opportunity to persevere through our current six mass extinction. The biggest challenges that these species face are loss of habitat and hunting human.

“When we see the living crocodiles and alligators, instead of thinking about terrible beasts or expensive handbags, I hope that people will appreciate their whopping 200+ million years of evolution and that they survived so many turbulent events in the history of the country,” Irmis said.

“Crocodiles are equipped to survive many future changes – if we are ready to help preserve their habitats.”