r/Naturewasmetal

South America was a frightening place during the Miocene. A vast lake covered much of the continent, home to giant turtles and colossal Crocodylians. Truly wide range of predators hunted on the lake's shores, including Anacondas, Saber-Toothed mammals, The Flightless raptor-clawed "terror birds" and... if the crocodilians are not enough there were The Sebecids: Terrestrial relatives of crocodylians.

A recent study shows that crocodylians were, in fact, the most significant group of predators in this habitat. "Our new study shows that crocodylians in particular were the region's most important predators, especially when it came to hunting large prey." Oscar Wilson, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki.

Physical evidence of crocodylian predation on ungulates in the Middle Miocene of Colombia

The Study: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2026.2701154

How are they not famous? They’re one of my favorite dinosaur groups of all time!

Length and mass values here: https://www.deviantart.com/ichthyotitanisntaken/journal/1369978915

American lion (right) and domestic cat (left).

Thylacoleo Carnifex - Species of Thylacoleonidae Family, of Diprotodontia Order, of Mammalia Class, of Chordata Phylum, of Animalia Kingdom from Naracoorte Caves, of State of South Australia, of Country of Australia

Modern squid almost always die when attacked by sperm whales. Was nanaimoteuthis big enough to overcome these odds ?

This may not be the subreddit for this discussion or topic, but after watching Children of the Sea (2019), I was wondering how big this Helicoprion was.

https://xcancel.com/i/status/1840151315466596840

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/mammal-ancestors-birthed-live-earlier

source

Inspired by cases of modern elephants attacking cattle, and also the fact P. namadicus apparently forced E. hysudricus to change its diet/habitat.

Unaysaurus tolenti. Didn’t know of this guy until I decided to draw it. One of the earliest sauropodomorphs. I pictured it much larger before actually researching it. Lol look up a size comparison.

Acrylic painting of a stegosaurus defeating an allosaurus.