A newly published study notes that prehistoric crocodiles acted more like modern-day whales and dolphins, based off their inner-ear sensory system.
The researchers analyzed CT-scans of fossils of the extinct crocodiles, known as thalattosuchia, and found they developed balance and equilibrium that let them spend significant amounts of time in the oceans.
"We find that open-ocean thalattosuchians developed strikingly compact and thickened bony labyrinth after a long semiaquatic phase and after modifying their skeleton to become better swimmers," the researchers wrote in the study's abstract. "This differs from cetaceans, which miniaturized their bony labyrinths soon after entering the water. Therefore, thalattosuchians and cetaceans took different evolutionary paths from land to water."
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