Mesosuchian crocodiles; rat behavior eating eggs question Re:
Archimedes Plutonium
In article <5372n9$r...@dartvax.dartmouth.edu>
Archimedes...@dartmouth.edu (Archimedes Plutonium) writes:
> I need to know about the egg layers of turtles and crocodiles and how
> they overcome the eating of their eggs by rats and other animals?
" All of the mesosuchian crocodiles that are thought to have been
dinosaur egg predators have a number of features in common. They are
moderately brevirostrine, with a broad skull table and heterodont
dentition. The vertebra are procoelous, and they have long slender
limbs with forelimbs only slightly shorter than the hind limbs. No
features specifically adapted for opening eggs have been positively
identified, but these taxa have not been examined with this possible
behavior in mind, so that functional studies are needed.
....
Conclusions
Although circumstantial, small fleet-footed mesosuchian crocodiles
may have raided dinosaur nesting sites during the Upper Jurassic and
Lower Cretaceous (Fig. 9.3). Both dinosaur eggs and newly hatched
young dinosaurs were items of prey. At present, there is no evidence to
suggest that dinosaurs were egg predators during the mid-Mesozoic,
although medium sized theropods would in all probability have been
effective in this role. "
-- quoted from DINOSAUR EGGS & BABIES, QE 862.D5 Carpenter, Hirsch,
Horner, 1994
I am searching for the mammals of the Mesozoic, especially the rat or
other omnivore that would have eaten dinosaur eggs.
Funny how the crocodile made it through the KT extinctions and it is
my theory that the crocodile was spared because it buried its eggs and
here, in this book it talks about a crocodile creature that actually
hunted for dinosaur eggs. Is that not ironic?
IS this Mesosuchian Crocodile any relation to our modern crocodile?
If memory serves me correctly in the DINOSAUR 4 part TV series it
showed some dinosaur eggs and hatchlings and one of the bones (if my
memory is correct) one of the bones was the skull of a rat-like
creature?
Does anyone know of a ratlike mammal fossil found in any of the rock
matrix possessing dinosaur eggs or hatchling fossils?