STL Science Center

STL Science Center

16 March 2016

Rauisuchian Bulldog

Prestosuchus had a skull that was deep and stout. Relatively long and filled with teeth, the body caudal to that skull was long and gracile in comparison to large archosaurs that would come after it, but strong and robust compared to most of its contemporaries, especially its prey items. Give that Prestosuchus had a strong body that was built much more like a wrestler than a runner, the hypothesized niche of Prestosuchus has been described as that of an ambush predator of large prey items in particular. This makes sense considering that Prestosuchus was the largest of the Rauisuchians, supposedly, with the exception of Saurosuchus. Because it was so large in comparison with many of its contemporaries, including the fledgling groups of dinosaurs, Prestosuchus was highly likely to take large prey, defend it, and eat as much as it wanted prior to abandoning it completely to scavengers. That sort of hypothesized behavior can be seen in the image below.
(C) MaurĂ­lio Oliveira

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