What was life like for the ancient crocodiles that lurked in the waterways of the Cretaceous?

The well preserved skeleton of a 95-million-year-old fossil, nicknamed Chooky, is about to help UNE post-doctoral researcher Matt White find out.

Chooky was uncovered by Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum volunteers on a property west of Winton in 2010 but it wasn’t until the fossil underwent advanced synchrotron scanning that the true wonder of the discovery was revealed.

“Normally fossils are pancaked,” said Matt, who has been a research palaeontologist with the Australian Age of Dinosaurs since 2006.

“But the concretion in which Chooky’s remains are entombed prevented compaction, so we think we have a new species of crocodile preserved in all its 3D glory.”

Synchrotron imaging has also revealed what may be the signatures of soft tissues, even muscle and skin.

“If tissue is preserved, it may allow us to consider the connective tissue, muscle structure, physiology and anatomy of an ancient crocodile for the first time,” Matt said.

“This is an unprecedented opportunity to answer many long-standing questions.”

Chooky also promises to reveal much about the evolution of modern crocodiles. The entire crocodile lineage dates back 200 million years, but about 100 million years ago the more primitive Neosuchia evolved into the more modern Eusuchia family, to which today’s crocodiles belong.

“The Eusuchia crocodiles are very poorly understood and fossils like this one are extremely rare,” Matt said.

“Chooky has distinct anatomical features and comes from a key period in crocodile evolution.

“This fossil could shed light on the transition from the Neosuchia to the Eusuchia crocodiles.”

But the discovery of this Cretaceous carnivore is just the beginning. Matt will now use computer software to merge all the scans taken of Chooky to produce a composite 3D image of the entire skeleton.

This will be used to print a complete 3D specimen, which will guide the preparation of the actual fossil.

“This way we can build a 3D version onscreen before beginning the painstaking work of reconstructing the fossil itself, which is very delicate,” Matt said.

“That’s when the real fun comes in – piecing together something found in the rock that no-one else has seen before.”

Photo: Palaeontologist and UNE post-doctoral researcher Matt White.