Newly discovered croc may have hunted dinos on land, expert says

A newly unearthed fossil has led experts to believe an ancient species of crocodile may have been an apex predator that hunted dinosaurs on land.

Paleontologist and National Geographic Explorer Diego Pol and his team helped to uncover the remains of Kostensuchus atrox , a previously unknown species of crocodile in Patagonia, close to Antarctica, that lived around 70 million years ago.

A visual reconstruction of a Kostensuchus atrox. Gabriel Diaz Yanten / National Geographic

With its longer legs, scientists think this species may have been more land-oriented than the crocodiles of today, and potentially died around the Ice Age with the dinosaurs.

Experts say this croc was a hypercarnivore, which means it almost exclusively ate meat. It's estimated to have measured 11.5 feet long