Pakasuchus kapilimai: Tanzania's Extinct Warm-Blooded Cat Crocodile

The description feline defers to such cat crocodile hallmarks as:

• agile backbones;
• housecat-sized 5- to 10-pound (2.27- to 4.54-kilogram) frames;
• housecat-sized 2-foot (60.96-centimeter) head-to-tail lengths; and
• small, 3.5-inch (8.89-centimeter) skulls.

The designation canine emphasizes a peculiarity of cat crocodile snouts whereby nasal openings are dog-like to the front for land-breathing as opposed to atop the head for water-breathing. The term mammal finds similar applicability regarding:

• food chains and predator/prey webs;
• look and use of jaws and teeth; and
• niches within southern hemisphere habitats 65,000,000 to 105,000,000 years ago.

Paleontologists indeed give to cat crocodiles:

• canine-, molar-, premolar-filled, mobile-jawed mouthparts;
• diets of insects, primitive mammals, small lizards; and
• roles of mammals with the break-up of the supercontinent Pangaea. 

Southeast Africa’s floodplains hold for modern experts such as Professors Saidi Kapilima -- whom the cat crocodile species kapilimai honors -- of Tanzania’s University of Dar-es-Salaam and Patrick O’Connor of Ohio University at Athens red sandstone-preserved fossils from the southern supercontinent Gondwana. Medical scanning one such specimen’s tight-closed jaws indeed identifies the cat crocodile’s crocodilian skullbone arrangements, feline skull, and mammalian canines for biting, jaws and premolars for sliding, and molars for shearing before swallowing. Paleontologists thereby judge cat crocodile corporeal, dental, and mandibular forms and functions as consistent with the evolutionary precept of creatures pursuing similar lifestyles evolving similar features.

Fauna-loving amateurs, newbies, and specialists likewise know of the above-mentioned discoveries through Dr O’Connor’s taxonomy-related article of 2010. 

Fossilized cat crocodiles let twenty-first century Earthlings in on ancient population controlling-species in mammal-sparse Gondwana to the south of animal-rich Laurasia. They make easier reconstructions of life cycles and natural histories regarding the collateral and direct ancestors of the twenty-first century’s fearsome alligators, caimans, crocodiles, and gavials. Their discovery indeed nudges the incredible and the unknown into less mysterious, more credible realms.

Cat crocodile fossils particularly offer insights into animal survival and faunal sustainability since the related crocodile and dinosaur descendants of archosaurs respectively did and did not survive ancient Earth’s mass extinctions. They preserve evidence of crocodilian experimentation with cat-like, dragonfly-chasing, front-snouted, land-lubbing, osteoderm-free, warm-blooded physiques hindered only by inexplicably weighted-down tails of bony, crocodile-like armor. 

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Ancient crocodile Pakasuchus kapilimai of Tanzania's Rukwa Rift Basin: graphic is comparing the size of the ancient crocodile Pakasuchus kapilimai to a housecat.
Roaming Tanzania in the Middle Cretaceous period, P. kapilimai had a number of features unusual for crocodylians, such as mammal-like teeth and flexible spine.The previously unknown "croc" was unearthed from 105 million-year-old, mid-Cretaceous rocks.
Pakasuchus was discovered by international researchers led by Patrick O'Connor of Ohio University and partly funded by NSF.: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ancient_Crocodile_Pakasuchus_kapilimai_(15104697297).jpg; Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation, Usage restrictions None, via EurekAlert! @ https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/733263 (specific image URL @  https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/894850)

Diagram of dentition of Early Cretaceous notosuchian Pakasuchus kapilimai. Gray area reconstructs missing parts of the holotype skull.
Pakasuchus kapilimai flourished as mammal-like Crocodyliforme in Cretaceous (Latin: creta, "chalk") geologic period.: Smokeybjb, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pakasuchus_dentition.svg

Pakasuchus kapilimai: an extinct, warm-blooded ancestor of saltwater crocodiles (Crocodilus porosus)
life restoration of Pakasuchus kapilimai: Smokeybjb, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pakasuchus.jpg

"Pakasuchus" (1:10)
Uploaded August 8, 2010, by tyrantslayer24 to YouTube ~ URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzJ3lxtJKFs

"Pakasuchus teeth" (0:33)
Uploaded August 3, 2010, by edyong209 to YouTube~ URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2u0lUfsR8E

Pakasuchus kapilimai's homeland: southeastern Tanzania's Rukwa Rift Basin contains Lake Rukwa, watery homeland of huge populations of modern-day crocodiles.
Lake Rukwa, in Tanzania, as seen from space: NASA World Wind, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lake_Rukwa.png

Alonso, Juan Carlos, and Gregory S. Paul. 2015. The Early Cretaceous: Notes, Drawings, and Observations from Prehistory. Lake Forest, CA: Walter Foster Jr., imprint of Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc.

Bonner, John. 4 August 2010. “Tooth to tail oddities in ancient croc.” Nature > News. 

• Available @ http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100804/full/news.2010.389.html

Kaufman, Gabriel. 2007. Saltwater Crocodile: The World’s Biggest Reptile. New York, NY: Bearport Publishing. 

O’Connor, Patrick M.; Sertich, Joseph J.W.; Stevens, Nancy J.; Roberts, Eric M.; Gottfried, Michael D.; Hieronymus, Tobin L.; Jinnah, Zubair A.; Ridgely, Ryan; Ngasala, Sifa E.; Temba, Jesuit. The evolution of mammal-like crocodyliforms in the Cretaceous Period of Gondwana. Nature 466, 748–751 (5 August 2010). doi:10.1038/nature09061

• Available @ http://www.nature.com/articles/nature09061.epdf?referrer_access_token=k9ok9Tg2d8jeus4t_S_1l9RgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0NCPgYDsjdK4EyfgsZwD0mC_ohD9FUgWk2wMj4DhJoBU1Mcdz5QqLzGHRu-sDuxtklc4Kj-xwbg_G_TL75ozqdDz9YYNIXDNWql5-fyDn7XScDaqYXhH8cQff-e-Kn8Xk-CQooAHsnixKZj57la9XWg&tracking_referrer=www.nature.com

Ohio University. 4 August 2010. “Mammal-like crocodile fossil found in East Africa, scientists report.” ScienceDaily > Releases.

• Available @ http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100804133352.htm

Strauss, Bob. "10 prehistoric crocodiles everyone should know." About.com > About Education > Dinosaurs > Prehistoric Animals.

• Available @ http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/otherprehistoriclife/ss/10-Prehistoric-Crocodiles-Everyone-Should-Know.htm#step1

Switek, Brian. 6 August 2010. “Pakasuchus: the croc that ate like a mammal. Smithsonian > Science > Nature.

• Available @ http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/pakasuchus-the-croc-that-ate-like-a-mammal-77899607/?no-ist 

Than, Ker. 5 August 2010. “Pictures: Ancient ‘Cat Crocodile’ Discovered.” Illustration Courtesy Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation. National Geographic > News > Photogalleries.

• Available @ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/08/photogalleries/100804-crocodile-chew-fossil-science-mammal-teeth-pictures/

"These Crocs Are Made for Biting: The Discovery." National Science Foundation > News > Special Reports.

• Available via NSF @ http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/crocs/discovery.jsp

"These Crocs Are Made for Biting Fact Sheet: Pakasuchus kapilimai." National Science Foundation > News > Special Reports.

• Available via NSF @ http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/crocs/fact.jsp

"These Crocs Were Made for Chewing?" 2010. National Science Foundation > News. Press Release 10-134 (August 4, 2010).

• Available via NSF @ http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?org=NSF&cntn_id=117392

Witton, Mark. 3 August 2010. “Pakasuchus: an ancient crocodile and mammal wannabe.” Discover Magazine > Photos.

• Available @ http://discovermagazine.com/galleries/zen-photo/p/pakasuchus

Yong, Ed. 4 August 2010. "Pakasuchus -- the crocodile that’s trying to be a mammal." NGM.com > Phenomena, A science salon hosted by National Geographic Magazine.

• Available @ http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2010/08/04/pakasuchus-the-crocodile-thats-trying-to-be-a-mammal/

Zielinski, Sarah. 6 August 2010. “A cat-like crocodile from the Cretaceous.” Smithsonian > Science > Nature.

• Available @ http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/a-cat-like-crocodile-from-the-cretaceous-32854440/