SuperCroc, the Prehistoric Monster

SuperCroc is the largest crocodilian ever discovered. Its skull alone was six feet long. Based on skull and bone measurements and comparisons with modern crocs, it grew to between 37 and 40 feet and weighed up to 17,500 pounds. Growth lines in cross sections of the two rows of 35 armored plates along its-neck, back and tail put its minimum life span at 50 to 60 years.

The creature was twice as long, 10 times as heavy, and lived to twice the age of its largest modern cousins. The shape of its 132 teeth indicates that it mainly fed on dinosaurs, although Paul Serene calls it a "garbage can" that probably ate anything, including animal carcasses and fish.

A team of students and technicians "spent a year cleaning the bones of the specimen Sereno found in Niger in 2000.