Emily Chan
“We first learned about the site through word of mouth from a local farmer who had noticed some unusual ‘rocks.’ Intrigued, we decided to investigate,” said Marcelo Sanchez-Villagra, the director at the Paleontological Institute and Museum in Zurich.
The excavation process was a rather complex undertaking. The paleontologists prepared for the dig for several months.
It took five people around seven hours to remove the skeleton. The remains were embedded in fine sediments, allowing for excellent preservation.
After the remains were safely collected, the researchers analyzed the depth, shape and directions of the slash marks that were visible on the fossils.
The puncture wounds created by the crocodile consisted of an almost semi-circular outline and wider curved incisions.
The other bite marks were long, narrow slits featuring V-shaped cross sections, typical of a shark bite. The discovery of the tooth confirmed the attacker had been a tiger shark.
Overall, the findings suggest that the food chain of today has remained similar to how it functioned in the past, with the body of a dead animal providing food for predators.
The details of the study were published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
