Extinct fish-eating crocodile species likely killed off by humans

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-03-09 11:01

International

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A new, but sadly extinct, fish-eating crocodile species has been discovered from Bronze Age China, which international researchers believe was driven to extinction by humans only a few hundred years ago. The team found two bone samples of the newly discovered crocodylian, Hanyusuches sinensis, which showed evidence of head injuries and decapitation which they say are characteristic of human-induced extinction for the unique species.

Media release

From: The Royal Society

An intermediate crocodylian linking two extant gharials from the Bronze Age of China and its human-induced extinction

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

We reported a new crocodylian showing intermediate characteristics of two extant gharials (Indian and Malayan gharials) from the Bronze age of southern China, which helped to resolve decades-long debate on family-level relationships among crocodylians. The chop marks left on two specimens and historical accounts suggests the human-induced extinction of this unique crocodylian only a few hundred years ago.

Journal/
conference: Proceedings of the Royal Society B

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Hefei University of Technology, China

Funder: This study was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 41772003 and 42172026 to J.L., and 42002021 to M.I.); Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (grant no. PA2020GDKC0022 to J.L.); Department of Natural Resources of Anhui Province (grant no. 2021-g-216 to J.L.); China Scholarship Council (grant no. 202106690044 to Y.Q.); and JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (grant nos. 19J00701 to M.I., and 15H05969 and 20H05821 to M.Y.).

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