Thursday, January 24, 2013

Metriorhynchids - the Terrible Marine Crocs!


Howdy folks! I hope your week was enjoyable. A lot of preparation stuff has been going on in the past few weeks. So as usual, updates come first!

The play I’ve been talking about, “The King on a Cross” is in what I like to call, the pre-production stage. The casting call for this play that I wrote will be taking place tomorrow night! That’s the 25th of this month! I’ve been anxiously awaiting this night. Even though it’s the day of, that doesn’t mean it’s too late for you to participate if you’re interested in acting. If you’re NOT interesting in acting, but would like to help in some other way, we’d be glad to have you! For need-to-know information, please send me an email to animaladventures@aol.com!

For those of you who are interested in my upcoming stop-motion series, “Planet of the Dinosaurs,” you would be delighted to know that things are coming along great! The series as a whole is about 15% finished. I am completely finished taking pictures for the first of six episodes, entitled “Out of Africa”. Right at this moment I’m about 35% finished with the second episode. This second episode had a title change – instead of the original title: “The Tropical Polar Regions”, I shortened it to: “The Tropical Poles” since that’s less of a mouthful. I hope to be completely finished taking pictures for this episode by the 28th of January 2013. As I have said before, this series should (Lord willing) be released during springtime at the rate I’m going. I can’t wait!

Speaking of prehistoric creatures, crocodiles look VERY prehistoric! Members of the crocodilian family have been found in many of the ancient fossil layers that were deposited during Noah’s Flood, about 4,300 years ago. Fossil crocodiles first appear in the Triassic layer (I am not referring to the fictional time periods that evolutionists use to refer to the times that layers in the rock were laid down, I am referring to the name of the layer itself). Crocodiles are some of the most formidable predators. Today, they are found in a variety of wet habitats and the largest of them, the saltwater crocodile, can grow 20 feet in length. Back in the day though, did you know that crocodiles could grow over 40 feet long?!? They also didn’t only live in rivers, lakes, estuaries and ponds (and in the case of the saltwater croc) with occasional trips into the sea. There was once were species of crocodile that made their homes in the sea. Introducing: the Metriorhynchids (Met-ree-oh-rin-kids)!
Metriorhynchus, a marine crocodile
Metriorhynchids are a group of marine crocodiles that lived in the ocean. While there are different species of these guys that used to swim through the sea, the three-meter long Metriorhynchus is the most famous (even though when you ask most people to describe a metriorhynchid, they’ll respond by saying, “Metra-what-a?”). These were some of the strangest crocodiles that God had ever assembled! First of all, instead of the flat, paddle-like tails of modern crocs, God gave the metriorhynchids a shark-like tail and flippers on their limbs that helped them to effortlessly glide gracefully through the water.
Tyrannoneustes, a recently discovered metriorhynchid  (This image came from this link)
This month, a new species of metriorhynchid was discovered. It is called Tyrannoneustes. This predator and its relative, metriorhynchus both probably lived in the ancient seas surrounding what would become Europe. The pre-flood oceans were a dangerous place to be, even for a marine crocodile. Most crocs have armor, but marine crocodiles lack armor so that they are quicker in the water. This is a good thing, because these seas were filled with monsters. One good example would be the large predatory reptile called Liopleurodon. This 7-meter carnivore had a ten-foot jaw with 13-inch teeth! No wonder metriorhynchids had to be fast! The reason why many of the predators in these European seas were so large, was probably because the prey was large! Take Leedsichthys for example. Here is a fish that grew 50, 70, perhaps even up to 90 feet in length (fortunately, it only ate plankton)!

Metriorhynchids also had a maw full of sharp teeth. Being a crocodile, it probably would have eaten a lot of fish and maybe scavenged from other carnivores’ kills (a dying or dead Leedsichthys would have provided food for weeks, if not months).

The metriorhynchids were an amazing group of crocodiles God created. But evidently, sometime after the Flood, these creatures became extinct, leaving only their bones and their living crocodile relations to tell us that they ever existed.

You probably learned a lot of new stuff today. (I mean, who’s ever heard of a metriorhynchid besides me anyways?) But that also can lead us to another question: what other strange creatures are waiting underground for someone to find it? Maybe someone like you! Who knows? I hope you found today’s reading informative. Be sure to stop by next Thursday to see what I’ll have in store for you next time. Bye!


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2 comments:

  1. Hi that was a nice article you wrote there thank you.

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    1. Your welcome and THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING THE FIRST PERSON TO COMMENT ON MY WEBSITE!

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