Cranial Shield Would Have Put This Ancient Croc A-head of the Game

In the annals of attack animals, this one would have been high on that list, as well as high on the list of animals having a ready defense against other predators.

This one is a 33-foot-long crocodile with a 6.5-foot-long head topped by a bony plate in the form of a shield. Now that's one tough lizard. Scientists have dubbed it "Shieldcroc."

This large-toothed animal dude lived from 93 million to 99 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous period, when the planet was populated by other very large crocodiles. (Sounds like the plot for a horror movie.)

The fossil was discovered in what is now Morocco and is now in the Royal Ontario Museum of Canada. The scientists presented their findings at a recent meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, in Las Vegas.

We have just the skeleton at this point in time, of course, so any conclusions presented by paleontologists can be, at best, informed speculation. Still, the speculation is that Shieldcroc had small teeth and weak jaws, which would put it in the class of a fish-eater more than a fierce flesh-tearer.

Also, some scientists think that the shield-like protrusion on top of Shieldcroc's head was not always for battle with others over food or territory but, rather, for battle at times over living arrangements — namely, that the shield, which is thought to have been not so much through-and-through bone as a shell covering tissue packed with blood vessels, which not only helped to regulate body temperature but also served as a means of attracting a mate.

Now that's using your head.