A highly important Dyrosaurus gharial crocodile skull measuring 3.9ft, displaying all the reptile attributes along with the original fossil teeth in original alveoli positions, in both the upper maxilla and lower mandible. It is often during the fossilisation process that the teeth are lost, damaged or severely weathered out of the jaws of vertebrates.

This large specimen evokes the predatory nature of these vertebrates from the Cretaceous period dating back 65,000,000 - 70,000,000 years.

With very little malformation, which is a common feature of the material from this location, the superb and scientifically interesting crocodilian fossil skull evokes a fearsome image from its prehistorical past. The burlap jacket is now wrapped around the fossil block when excavated in the field, which aids transportation from the fossil bed, and also now keeps the fossil skull in a stable and safe environment. The specimen has been stabilised in the field when lifted from the bed, before transportation and again using bone tissue stabilisers in our Lab in the UK.

These large predatory crocodiles co-existed with the land dinosaurs like Spinosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus, among the tropical water margins of the warm Cretaceous land. In North Africa, in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, part of Gondwana land broke up and Pangea formed, moving northward from its position in the southern hemispheres. In Africa, a tropical ecosystem developed. By the Cretaceous, this warm tropical environment gave the clade of crocodylomorphs, the family of Eusuchica, true crocodiles, an ideal environment in the lagoons and swamps to launch attacks on unsuspecting prey. The evolution of crocodilians equipped them with the skills to live through the dinosaurian extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous period, up to the present day.

The details

Genus: Dyrosauridae | Dyrosaurus sp
Origin: Morocco, North Africa
Age: Cretaceous, Maastrichtian epoch, 65,000,000 - 70,000,000 years
Stats: Full-size crocodile length: 4.2M / Home Sapien height: 1.8M

Dyrosaurus skull: L: 109 CM / H: 48 CM / D: 14.5 CM
Overall: 120 CM / KG: 30.252