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NEW DELHI
Based on remains recovered from the fossilised stomach contents of a 93-million-year-old crocodile discovered in Central Queensland, advanced nuclear and synchrotron imaging has verified that the crocodile swallowed a young dinosaur.
The Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum (QLD) discovered the fossils in 2010 in collaboration with the University of New England, and their findings have been published in the journal Godwana Research.
A huge team led by Dr. Matt White of the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum and the University of New England carried out the research.
The crocodile remains were discovered in 2010, but comprehensive imaging of them was only recently completed.
Confractosuchus sauroktonos, which means' 'broken crocodile dinosaur killer, 'was a crocodile that measured between 2 and 2.5 metres in length.
The crocodile was discovered in a large, shattered boulder, hence the name "broken."
Early neutron imaging scans of one of the boulder's granite fragments revealed the bones of a little chicken-sized juvenile dinosaur in the intestines, an ornithopod that has yet to be fully identified by species.
The crocodile was caught in a megaflood, buried, and died quickly, according to scientists.
(With inputs from agencies)