Crocodylus lucivenator lived in between 3.4 million to 3 million years earlier, overlapping the time duration and the area in Ethiopia with the popular Lucy and her hominid types, Australopithecus afarensis

The types varied from 3.7 to 4.6 m(12-15 feet)in length and weighed in between 270 to 590 kg (600-1,300 pounds).

It was an ambush predator, calmly immersed in the water, poised to spring on those who occurred for a beverage.

“It was the biggest predator because environment, more so than lions and hyenas, and the greatest danger to our forefathers who lived there throughout that time,” stated Professor Christopher Brochu, a scientist at the University of Iowa.

“It’s a near certainty this crocodile would have hunted Lucy’s types.”

“I was simply blown away due to the fact that it had this actually strange mix of character states.”

Crocodylus lucivenator was determined from 121 specimens– mostly skulls, teeth, and parts of jaws– recuperated in the Hadar Formation in the Afar area of Ethiopia.

One fossilized lower jaw bears indications of injury analyzed as pathological modifications, perhaps the outcome of battle with another crocodile.

“This specimen had actually a number of partly recovered injuries on its jaw that recommended it had actually tussled with among its peers,” stated Dr. Stephanie Drumheller, a paleontologist at the University of Tennessee.

“The fossil record maintains comparable injuries in extinct groups too, so this type of face-biting habits can be discovered throughout the crocodile ancestral tree.”

“We can’t understand which contender triumphed of that battle, however the recovery informs us that, winner or loser, this animal made it through the encounter.”

Crocodylus lucivenator reveals a mix of physiological functions seen in a number of extinct crocodile types from East Africa.

It shares particular characteristics with 2 types understood from the Pleistocene, while likewise maintaining more primitive attributes.

At the exact same time, the scientists recognized an unique raised ridge along the top of the snout– a function comparable to those discovered in contemporary Neotropical crocodiles and in Late Miocene crocodiles from Libya and Kenya.

Fossils from the Pliocene website of Kanapoi in Kenya, formerly appointed to another types, likewise reveal an equivalent ridge.

The brand-new research study shows that these fossils and Crocodylus lucivenator are carefully associated to a number of other extinct crocodiles from East Africa.

A phylogenetic analysis performed by the researchers supports the concept that this cluster of ancient African crocodiles forms an unique family tree.

The fossils show that Crocodylus lucivenator was the only crocodilian living in the Hadar Formation throughout the Pliocene.

That contrasts with approximately modern deposits in the Turkana Basin, where fossil proof recommends that as lots of as 4 crocodile types lived at the exact same time. The factor for this distinction stays unpredictable.

“During the Pliocene, Hadar was made up of a range of environments together with its lake and river systems over area and time, consisting of open and closed forests, gallery forests, damp meadows, and shrublands,” stated Dr. Christopher Campisano, a paleontologist at Arizona State University.

“Interestingly, this crocodile was among just a couple of types that had the ability to continue throughout.”

The discovery is reported in a paper in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology

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Christopher A. Brochu et alLucy’s danger: A Pliocene crocodile from the Hadar Formation, north-eastern Ethiopia. Journal of Systematic Palaeontologyreleased online March 11, 2026; doi: 10.1080/ 14772019.2026.2614954