Animals, features and articles | Educational Science

Mar 4, 2014

Reptile Death Match: Snake Devours Crocodile (Video)

A python was caught on camera devouring a crocodile after an epic battle on the shores of an Australian lake. Amazing footage of the incident shows the snake constricting its prey and slowly stretching its mouth over the crocodile's scaly body during the course of five hours. The reptile death...

Mar 19, 2014

A Crocodile Hunt, Redefined, in Southeastern Cuba (Op-Ed)

Natalia Rossi is a herpetologist with the Latin America and Caribbean Program of the Wildlife Conservation Society and a Ph.D. candidate at Columbia University. This article is the second in a series of blogs celebrating the contributions of women to the practice of conservation. Rossi contributed this article to Live...

Apr 3, 2014

Photos: A Frozen Croc Goes to the Hospital

Dino Analog (Image credit: Ohio University)When paleontologists dig up dinosaurs, all they find are bones. As crocodiles are living cousins of dinosaurs, the organs and tiny structures inside their heads might resemble elusive soft tissue that once filled the skulls of dinosaurs. Rare Croc CT (Image credit: Ohio University)A group...

Apr 3, 2014

X-Rays Reveal Rare Croc's Insides

For the past 15 years, anatomist Larry Witmer has been going through the back door of the O'Bleness Hospital in Athens, Ohio, pushing coolers stuffed with dead animals into the CT scanning room. He has brought in ostriches, slain rhinoceroses and rare kiwis. Last week, Witmer arrived with an 8.5-foot-long...

Jun 2, 2014

900-Lb. Ancient Croc Tore Through Turtles, Battled Monster Snakes

It was 16 feet (4.8 meters) long and tipped the scales at 900 lbs. (408 kilograms). With a blunt snout and powerful bite, it ate turtles and battled monster snakes. Now this extinct dyrosaur, a type of crocodilian, which roamed an ancient rainforest a few million years after the dinosaurs...

Jul 23, 2014

Chasing Alligators, Dodging Parrots: A Zookeeper's Life (Op-Ed)

Christopher Scoufaras is a zookeeper at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)'s Queens Zoo. He contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Growing up, I regularly visited the WCS's Bronx Zoo and New York Aquarium and knew from a young age that I was interested in working...

Oct 22, 2014

Facts about alligators

Alligators are large reptiles and members of the order Crocodylia. The two existing species of alligators and the many worldwide species of crocodiles are closely related, and people often confuse one with the other. An alligator is distinguished by its wide, rounded snout and black color. When an alligator rests...

Jan 21, 2015

Ancient Knife-Toothed Reptile Is Crocodile Cousin

The fossil of a prehistoric 9-foot-long (2.7 meters) carnivorous reptile that had sharp, serrated teeth is helping researchers fill out the early branches of the reptile family tree, according to a new study. It's unclear where the reptile, Nundasuchus songeaensis, falls on the evolutionary tree, said Sterling Nesbitt, an assistant...

Feb 24, 2015

Photos: Ancient Crocodile Relatives Roamed the Amazon

The fossilized remains of seven species of crocodile relatives were found along the banks of the Amazon River in Peru. These prehistoric reptiles lived in South America at a time when the Amazon River basin contained swamps, rivers and lakes, as well as a multitude of clams. But when tectonic...

Feb 24, 2015

Ancient Croc with 'Shovel Mouth' Likely Enjoyed Clam Dinners

A peg-toothed crocodile relative with a mouth like a shovel lived in the prehistoric swamps of Peru about 13 million years ago, a new study finds. The newly discovered reptile (Gnatusuchus pebasensis) is one of seven types of extinct crocodylians researchers found recently near the Amazon River in northeastern Peru....

Oct 23, 2015

Crocodiles Might Literally Sleep With One Eye Open

Have you heard the expression better sleep with one eye open? Crocodiles may take that phrase literally, according to a new study. To stay abreast of potential threats in their environment, crocs sometimes keep an eye open while snoozing, scientists found. Lots of animals close only one eye while sleeping,...

Jan 15, 2016

In Photos: Monster Crocodile Ancestor Uncovered

Scientists have discovered the remains of what was a 30-foot-long (9 meters) crocodile ancestor on the fringes of the Sahara, in the area that served as the planet Tatooine in Star Wars. Here's a look at the 130-million-year-old remains and excavation at the site. [Read the full story on the...

May 21, 2016

Later, Gator: 'Monster' Nile Crocodiles May Be Invading Florida

Florida's native alligators and crocodiles could be facing some new competition — from a bigger and meaner member of their own crocodilian family. Nile crocodiles — American crocodiles' larger, more aggressive cousins from the African continent — have been identified in the wild in southern Florida for the first time,...

May 25, 2016

Crocs: Ancient Predators in a Modern World (Photos)

Exhibition entrance (Image credit: Copyright AMNH/C. Chesek)Crocs: Ancient Predators in a Modern World is a new exhibition exploring the complex lives of crocodilians — the group including crocodiles, alligators, caimans, and gharials — their evolutionary history, biology, behavior, and precarious relationships with human societies. [Read the full story on these...

May 26, 2016

Live Crocs Invade NYC in New Museum Exhibit

NEW YORK — The decades-old rumors of alligators inhabiting the depths of New York City's sewer system are no more than urban legends. But live alligators have, in fact, temporarily taken up residence here on Manhattan's Upper West Side, in a new museum exhibit. Beginning this Saturday (May 28) at...