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Imagine meeting a crocodile with huge tusks like those of a wild boar. Palaeontologist Paul Sereno did meet one, or at least the remains of the ancient creature, and he gave a crowd of excited youngsters a first public glimpse yesterday.
Sereno calls it boar-croc for its looks, since he hasn't yet published an article on it with a scientific name in the official literature.
The University of Chicago researcher found the skull in the Sahara Desert, which many thousands of years ago was moist and supported all sorts of animals.
Boar-croc doesn't fit in any known order. It has a crocodile-like snout, but adds horns and three sets of canine teeth like those of a wild pig adapted for eating meat.
