900 –Pound ‘Balrog’ Dyrosaur Discovered

According to a report in the journal Historical Biology a now extinct, new species of dyrosaur was recently discovered in Cerrejón, Colombia. This crocodilian creature was dubbed Anthracosuchus balrogus after the fierce Balrog that lurked in the Middle-Earth mines of Moria in J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel The Lord of the Rings.

The 16-foot long Balrog-like creature had a powerful bite and a blunt snout. It fed on turtles and tussled with gigantic snakes. It roamed through the ancient rainforests a few million years following the death of the dinosaurs.

900 â€"Pound ‘Balrog’ Dyrosaur Discovered/Image: UFL

Much like the fictitious Balrog, Anthracosuchus balrogus was discovered deep within the bowels of the earth. In fact, after being trapped within the rocks of South America for 60 million years, four specimens of the newly-found species were uncovered in a layer of rock in a Cerrejón coal mine. Scientists have previously unearthed large turtles with shells as thick as college textbooks and skeletons of Titanboa, a 48-foot-long snake.

The data indicates that Anthracosuchus balrogus “is the third new species of ancient crocodilian” discovered at Cerrejón. It is believed that the crocodilian creatures originated in Africa and then swam across to South America via the Atlantic Ocean approximately 75 million years ago.

Researchers were impressed that the dyrosaurs somehow avoided the mass extinction that took out the dinosaurs roughly 65 million years ago. This particular dyrosaurid species managed to adapt to the freshwater ecosystem of the Cerrejón rainforest which was reportedly more swamp-like and warmer then than today.

Alex Hastings, a postdoctoral researcher at Martin Luther Universität- Halle-Wittenberg and former graduate student at the Florida Museum of Natural History, stated: “This group offers clues as to how animals survive extinctions and other catastrophes. As we face climates that are warmer today, it is important to understand how animals responded in the past. This family of crocodyliforms in Cerrejón adapted and did very well despite incredible obstacles, which could speak to the ability of living crocodiles to adapt and overcome.”

900 â€"Pound ‘Balrog’ Dyrosaur Discovered