93million-year-old crocodile fossil discovered with baby dinosaur in its stomach

The fossil of a 93million-year-old crocodile was discovered by scientists in Queensland, Australia - and it had a baby dinosaur in its stomach. The archaeology experts dubbed the ancient creature Confractosuchus Sauroktonos, which means 'broken crocodile dinosaur killer'.

Gondwana Research's report says the huge crocodile could have grown to about 2.5m and may have died in a flood. The fossil is thought to be around 35 per cent preserved, with a "near-complete skull" and scary teeth still there for us to see.

The researchers used 3D scans and X-rays to learn more about the creature. Scientists believe it died during a big flood, where it got buried, and that it was preserved as a fossil because the mud around it became solid from bacteria.

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When they did scans on one boulder, they found "bones of the small chicken-sized juvenile dinosaur in the gut", but unfortunately they have not yet been able to figure out what kind of dinosaur it was.

Study co-author Dr Joseph Bevitt told Indy100: "In the initial scan in 2015, I spotted a buried bone in there that looked like a chicken bone with a hook on it and thought straight away that it was a dinosaur."

"Human eyes had never seen it previously, as it was, and still is, totally encased in rock. The fossilised remains were found in a large boulder. Concretions often form when organic matter, or say a crocodile, sinks to the bottom of a river."

He then told Australian Nuclear Science and Technology (ANSTO): "3D digital scans from the Imaging and Medical Beamline guided the physical preparation of the crocodile, which was impossible without knowing precisely where the bones were."

The team had to ensure the rock samples were small enough for X-rays to get through for good quality scanning. But they were taken aback when they realised they would be able to discover the large reptile's last meal was.

Dr Bevitt said: "The results were outstanding in providing an entire picture of the crocodile and its last meal; a partially digested juvenile dinosaur."

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To confirm they'd found a dinosaur inside the crocodile, they analysed plant roots and geological features between the rock fragments. Dr Bevitt said: "The chemistry of rock provided the evidence."

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