A story of an extinct dragon

 An enigmatic crocodile hunted to extinction

As I show in this blog, it is possible that some creatures truly extraordinary people have lived alongside humanity a long time ago, but they became extinct before being recognized and cataloged by modern science, many of these have been represented only in art or writings, but from some fossils and remains have appeared, according to recent findings, one of those beasts seems to have been a species (and genus) until now unknown gharial crocodile related to the southern Chinese gharial, let's analyze this, thank you for reading, I hope you support and without further ado we begin 

The giant gharial of southern china

  This newly revealed species was named Hanyusuchus sinensis when it was formally described on March 9, 2022 in a Proceedings of the Royal Society B paper written by a team of researchers including Dr Masaya Iijim a from the School of Resources and Environmental Engineering of the Hefei University of Technology, after remaining largely ignored in the archives of a museum, this species being known from 6 specimens found between 1960 and 1980 remaining stored away and misidentified as common crocodiles, it was not until this year that they were identified as a unique and new genus of crocodilemorphs.

This species lived three millennia ago, during the Bronze Age of China, this imposing 6 meter reptile was undoubtedly a top predator, being described in texts as inhabitants of the provinces of Canton and Fujian and in the autonomous region of Guangxi, as well as on the island of Hainan, being according to the largest and most ferocious crocodiles, More than six meters in length, these crocodiles are described as fast animals, yellowish brown, dark green and white, with a very long snout, They fed on fish, but from time to time they ate deer, cattle and humans, and even ventured inside houses, When they were full, they floated in the water like drunks, and people took the opportunity to kill them, at night they made resounding sounds, according to the babies, They were yellow and white, they were born in the sand, from eggs similar to those of ducks.

For a long time, all the stories of scary crocodiles used for execution, stories of hunting and battle against those were assumed to refer to the sea crocodile, but now there is another answer, since this species was found by scientists from China and Japan from six specimens discovered in various deposits in the Pearl River Delta area between 1963 and 1980, which had not been given importance until now, Since at first it was believed that they belonged to a modern species, on the contrary, it is a discovery whose significance goes beyond zoology and paleontology, and that can also shed light on the study of ancient Chinese culture.

Something that goes beyond

  I remember that a paleontologist said that, "we cannot identify fauna through artistic records," but well, curiously crocodiles were found that fit the description of this animal in Chinese art and its writings, but ironically, in addition to this and based on a long history of chronicles related to the slaughter of crocodiles there, Professor Minoru Yoneda, of the University Museum of the University of Tokyo, suspects that H. sinensis was systematically wiped out through prolonged and ruthless hunting over the past 3,000 years. but with its last representatives possibly dying as recently as just a few centuries ago, it is theorized that they lived until the 15th century A.D.C.

Even worse, most recently documented subfossils dating from that time period show evidence of violent weapon attacks by humans, showing signs of shattered heads and vertebrae and possibly even decapitations, clearly, this species was seen as a great threat by the growing population of the area, and in fact the shape of the cuts is compatible with the bronze war axes that were used at the time, further reinforcing this theory.

Tragically, this remarkable animal may have been lost to science and therefore to the prospect of saving it from extinction, Because at the end of the day I cannot cope with the actions of humans from ancient times, but we can save the current species of crocodiles and prevent cases like this from recurring.

[Reading links]

https://cienciaes.com/fosiles/2022/05/25/hanyusuchus/#:~:text=Hace%20menos%20de%20cuatrocientos%20a%C3%B1os,vino%20y%20animales%20para%20apaciguarlo.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanyusuchus