Kids and Almost Crocodiles

Photo by Ryan Hadley

There are a lot of websites that discuss Prestosuchus as a crocodile. The intricacies of phylogenetics and cladistics aside, we know that Prestosuchus is not properly a crocodile. Mentions in some BBC series websites completely ignore proper cladistics whereas more well attuned and informed websites like About (thankfully Bob Strauss has a strong attention to proper details) address the placement of Prestosuchus more appropriately. LiveScience also discusses Prestosuchus appropriately from a tree thinking mode of thought. However, the LiveScience page is more concerned with the Triassic as a whole and barely discusses the animal itself. Prestosuchus is very popular as a museum piece as well. This sort of popularity teaches kids about fossil animals of all kinds better than any website and better than can be done here some times as well.