Crocodiles today look the same as they did 200 million years ago – our study explains why

By Max Stockdale, Teaching Associate, Vertebrate Macroevolution and Palaeoecology, University of Bristol

One of the most enduring tropes about crocodiles is to describe them as “living fossils”. They are cold, slow moving and scaly, so they look like how one might picture a dinosaur. Like many clichés, there is an element of truth to this comparison. The crocodiles from 200 million years ago look surprisingly like the ones we know today.

But why have the modern crocodilians, including crocodiles, alligators and caimans, changed so little over such an immense span…

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