This reconstruction shows how an Anteosaurus takes down a herbivorous Moschognathus.
Alex Bernardini (@SimplexPaleo)
Dinosaurs get all the credit, but there were some fantastic animals that roamed the planet long before dinosaurs came along. One of these animals, the large-mouthed Anteosaurus, is thought to be sluggish, but new research shows that it was probably a cruel and effective hunter.
The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in South Africa, described Anteosaurus in a statement on Wednesday as a savage hunter-killer.
The hippopotamus-sized Anteosaurus was a dinosaur, which the university describes as ‘mammal-like reptiles’. They thrived in Africa about 260 million years ago, but died 30 million years before the first dinosaurs.
Previous research on Anteosaurus suggested that the animal was so heavy and slow that he might have to live in water. The White University team has created a 3D reconstruction of an Anteosaurus skull and discovered some surprising new data about its brain, body parts and probable hunting skills on land. It was not a slowpoke.
Here’s how an Anteosaurus skull compares to a human skull.
Wits University
“In bringing about the most complete reconstruction of an Anteosaurus skull to date, we found that the nervous system of Anteosaurus was generally optimized and specialized to hunt and strike fast, contrary to what was previously believed,” said paleontologist Ashley Kruger.
Kruger co-authored an article on Anteosuaurus published online last month in the Acta Palaeontologica Polonica journal. The study shows how computer reconstructions can change what we know about animals that have long since become extinct.
Julien Benoit, co-author, said: “Although Anteosaurus lived 200 million years before the famous dinosaur Tyrannosaurus rex, Anteosaurus was certainly not a ‘primitive’ creature and was nothing short of a powerful prehistoric killing machine.