A new species of extinct crocodile from Egypt has been discovered, sharing more than just its home with the Great Sphinx. Herugavialis cairensis was found in the very same rocks used to build the iconic monument.
Herugavialis is the new name for a fossil found in the same rocks that built the Great Sphinx. The reptile is a unique branch of the gharial family tree.
About 45 million years ago in northern Egypt, a long-snouted crocodile hunted in the warm, shallow sea. Its bones settled into the same limestone formation that ancient Egyptians would later carry and carve into the Great Sphinx.
By Taylor Nicioli, CNN (CNN) — The croc family tree may be getting a new branch. Analyzing fossilized remains discovered in the same bedrock that built the Great Sphinx, paleontologists newly identified a crocodilian species that once roamed a shallow sea in what’s now Egypt about 45 million years a…
