Have you ever wondered what dinosaurs were afraid of?
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00:00 "Cabirro!"
00:02 Have you ever wondered what
00:09 dinosaurs were afraid of?
00:12 What creature in the Cretaceous period
00:15 made taking a drink of water
00:17 a dangerous gamble?
00:21 I'm talking about terror crocs.
00:24 No, not those crocs.
00:27 Dinosuchus.
00:29 Otherwise known as the terror crocodile.
00:34 What made terror crocs
00:36 such extreme predators?
00:39 If they were still around,
00:41 what would threaten their survival today?
00:44 And were they able to eat
00:47 dinosaurs' bones and all?
00:51 This is WHAT IF,
00:52 and here's what would happen
00:54 if terror crocs were still alive.
01:00 About 80 to 73 million years ago,
01:04 Dinosuchus ruled over the marshes and swamps,
01:07 and feasted on unsuspecting dinosaurs.
01:12 Fossils have been found showing that
01:14 terror crocs grew up to 10 m (15 ft) long.
01:18 And they likely weighed close to 5 tons (1.2 kg),
01:21 just about the size of a city bus.
01:25 They had banana-sized teeth,
01:27 and jaws powerful enough to crush bones.
01:32 Many terror croc fossils have damaged teeth,
01:35 leading paleontologists to believe that
01:37 terror crocs chomped on dinosaur bones.
01:41 But scientists aren't exactly sure
01:44 if terror crocs were hunters or scavengers.
01:48 So if they happened to roam around today,
01:52 would they hunt us?
01:57 This might surprise you,
01:58 but crocodile attacks are actually more common
02:02 than shark attacks.
02:04 And they happen around the world.
02:07 For many people,
02:08 the risk of being attacked by a crocodile
02:10 is a daily concern.
02:12 In fact, thousands of years of crocodile attacks
02:16 have contributed to our evolutionary fear of reptiles,
02:20 known as herpetophobia.
02:23 Like our fear of spiders,
02:25 we've developed this phobia over time.
02:28 It's a natural way that we protect ourselves.
02:31 Like modern crocodiles,
02:32 the Deinosuchus was more of an opportunistic predator.
02:36 If anything happened to come into its territory,
02:40 these giant crocs would gobble it up,
02:42 no questions asked.
02:45 Most crocodiles eat, on average,
02:47 50 meals a year.
02:49 As ectotherms,
02:51 they gather heat from their environment,
02:53 so they don't need to eat as much as some animals
02:56 to stay warm.
02:57 The Nile crocodile can eat up to half its body weight
03:01 in one meal.
03:03 If the Terror croc ate this much,
03:06 it could eat about 2,000 kg (1,000 lb) in a day.
03:11 That's about 36 average-sized humans for breakfast.
03:16 Crocodiles have a unique valve in their heart.
03:21 It increases blood flow to their stomachs
03:24 through a special aorta.
03:26 This allows them to secrete gastric acid
03:29 ten times faster than most animals.
03:32 This means that they can dissolve entire animals,
03:35 bones and all.
03:37 As terrifying as it would be
03:38 to see one of these giants walking down the street,
03:41 it's more likely that they would stick
03:43 to their natural habitat of marshes,
03:46 rivers and swamps.
03:47 So you would need to be extra careful
03:50 about where you go fishing.
03:52 Even though Terror crocs could wreak havoc
03:55 on our marshland habitats,
03:57 we'd still hunt them for their skins
03:59 and make luxury accessories
04:01 like handbags, shoes and belts.
04:04 Many crocodiles in Africa and parts of Asia
04:07 are also killed for their meat.
04:10 Unfortunately, the bigger an animal is,
04:12 the more attractive it is to trophy hunters.
04:15 But with conservation efforts around the world,
04:18 many endangered species of crocodile
04:20 have managed to survive.
04:23 Now, if you think Terror crocs are scary,
04:27 how would your life change
04:28 if the megalodon still roamed our oceans?
04:32 Well, that's a story for another WHAT IF.
04:37 ♪ ♪
04:42 (dramatic music)