Sarcosuchus imperator

Sarcosuchus was among the largest crocodyliforms known to science, with total length estimates commonly cited at around 9 to 11 meters based on extrapolations from skull proportions. However, because no complete skeleton has been found, precise size estimates remain uncertain and vary depending on the scaling method used.

Fossils of Sarcosuchus have been discovered in Niger, West Africa, in Early Cretaceous deposits of the Elrhaz Formation at the Gadoufaoua locality. The finds include large skulls, vertebrae, and armored scute plates that have allowed paleontologists to reconstruct much of the animal's anatomy.

Its enormous size, robust conical teeth, and the unusually bulbous tip of its snout suggest Sarcosuchus was capable of tackling large prey, potentially including dinosaurs that came to drink at the rivers it inhabited. While no direct evidence of dinosaur predation has been found in Sarcosuchus fossils, the modern analogue of large crocodilians hunting large mammals lends support to this hypothesis.

Sarcosuchus shared its river-system habitat in what is now Niger with dinosaurs including the sail-backed spinosaurid Suchomimus and various other Early Cretaceous fauna. The environment was a lush floodplain ecosystem approximately 110 million years ago, during a time when the Sahara region supported rivers and abundant wildlife.