Template:Infobox Creature
Deinosuchus was a giant crocodilian, more closely related to the modern alligators than to the 'proper' crocodiles. It grew up to 15 meters (50 feet) in length and weight up to 9 tons in weight, making it the biggest alligator that has ever lived on Earth. It died out 6 million years before the K-T mass extinction event.
Facts
Most Deinosuchus fossils have been found in parts of Texas were Dallas is today. Like the modern estuarine crocodiles in Australia and Papua New Guinea, Deinosuchus may have made forays into the open ocean to feed. On land, they probably would have basked on sandbanks. A Deinosuchus weighted as much as a double-decker bus. They were immense! On land, some can have laid with their mouths open to actually lose a bit of heat. With their colossal jaws…Deinosuchus was adapted to dragging down huge prey. These crocodiles were so huge, they hunted and ate dinosaurs.
Deinosuchus died out around 70 MYA, during the Maastrichtian.
In the series
Walking with Dinosaurs
Death of a Dynasty
It appeared in a cameo in the last episode of Walking with Dinosaurs, Death of a Dynasty.
Where it was identified as a crocodile, and where it unsuccessfully stalks a giant pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus and a hadrosaur dinosaur Anatotitan.
Never officially identified in the series, it is identified as a 1 ton crocodile... though in reality, it was 9 times heavier!
Appearances In Other Media
Prehistoric Park
Read more at the Prehistoric Park Wiki
Deinosuchus was the main focus of the last episode Super Croc. One member of the species was rescued by Nigel. It acted and looked like modern day Alligators and preyed on Parasaurolophus along with Albertosaurus, whom it rivaled.
Primeval
Read more at the Anomaly Research Centre
Deinosuchus only appeared in the novel Fire and Water, where it and its aqutic habitat invaded London. One manged to kill a Velociraptor among the chaos. The book depicted the females being dominant over the males.