A researcher at McGill University in Montreal, discovered the fossil of three new prehistoric crocodiles, as part of excavations sponsored by the National Geographic Society.

Professor Hans Larsson and his colleague Paul Sereno of the University of Chicago, made these discoveries in northern Africa.

A new crocodile kaprosuchus saharicus, measuring six meters long and was armed with three pairs of tusks like those of a wild boar. The animal was carnivorous and could pursue its prey in water or on land in the region of the current Niger.

The second crocodile laganosuchus thaumastos, was fitted with a flattened nose to catch fish, while the third, araripesuchus rattoides, measuring only about a meter and was herbivorous. They inhabited the regions of Morocco and Niger.

“We have crocs that ate plants and galloped and ate dinosaurs and were flat as a board,” said Sereno, who unearthed the skeletons over the last several years in the Sahara.

Sereno said each croc was able to adapt to live in a very harsh environment.

“My African crocs appeared to have had both upright, agile legs for bounding over land and a versatile tail for paddling in water,” Sereno writes in National Geographic. “Their amphibious talents in the past may be the key to understanding how they flourished in, and ultimately survived, the dinosaur era.”

Researchers have also unearthed new fossils of two species of prehistoric crocodiles already known.

A researcher at McGill University in Montreal, discovered the fossil of three new prehistoric crocodiles - AP