Did this giant crocodile-like creature eat dinosaurs?

An illustration of what Kostensuchus atrox may have looked like

A gigantic crocodile-like creature probably ate dinosaurs 70-million-years ago, a new study has revealed.

Like today's crocodiles, the reptile was a hyper-carnivore, which means most of its diet is meat.

Named Kostensuchus atrox, it lived in what is now Argentina.

The discovery of a well-preserved fossilised skull and partial skeleton has shed new light on the ancient creature.

The Kostensuchus atrox is related to today's crocodiles

Kostensuchus atrox was not a dinosaur, but a peirosaurid crocodyliform, an extinct group of reptiles related to modern crocodiles and alligators.

Using the fossilised remains, scientists were able to work out that the crocodile relative reached around 3.5 metres in length and had huge powerful jaws that could tackle medium-sized dinosaurs.

Fernando Novas, a paleontologist at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council in Argentina, concluded that as well as powerful jaws, the creature had robust limbs that were longer than crocodile legs today, possibly to subdue large prey.

While we often think of dinosaurs as being the top predators of the time, it is interesting to see that there were other creatures which hunted them.

Another ancient crocodilian - known as Deinosuchus - was also a predator that preyed on large dinosaurs.

The fossil skull of Kostensuchus atrox, a 70-million-year-old relative to modern-day crocodiles

Kostensuchus atrox is the second-largest predator known to scientists from the Maastrichtian Chorrillo Formation, a rocky area in Patagonia, Argentina.

A meat-eating dinosaur named Maip macrothorax was also discovered there.

It is also the first crocodyliform fossil found in the Chorrillo Formation.

As one of the most intact peirosaurid crocodyliforms ever found, the discovery gives scientists a new insight into these prehistoric animals and their ecosystem.