News Paleontology

These crocodile-like beasts reached the Caribbean, outlasting mainland kin

Sebecids look straight out of the Age of Dinosaurs, but may have lived just 4 million years ago

In this illustration, a crocodile-looking creature stands over its prey, a ground sloth. Unlike a crocodile, this reptile has long straight legs.

A sebecid (foreground in this illustration) stands over its ground sloth prey millions of years ago near the northern shore of an ancient Hispaniola. Other creatures from this long-gone Caribbean ecosystem found fossilized at the site include land snails (on the tree at left), side-necked turtles (lower right corner) and gharials (background, at the water’s edge).