First of all, I’d just like to say a huge thank you to everyone for all your kind words on my first WWD2020 post and your excitement for this project!! I’m so glad this is something that so many other people are passionate about, and I hope y’all enjoy the rest of these!
And now onto the next reconstruction, and a very topical one given its recent victory in Triassic March Madness! So this one’s dedicated to @wtf-triassic, it’s Postosuchus from Episode 1: New Blood!
Honestly as far as I’m aware, the Postosuchus in WWD is actually pretty good! It’s decently-proportioned, with a long, low body, a very chunky neck, and even the weirdly-humanoid flat feet (they’re not visible in this picture but trust me they’re there). The head is a bit wonky, and one particular thing that I noticed as a kid is that the Postosuchus in the series never actually fully closes its mouth. In my redesign I’ve equipped it with a set of reptilian lips, allowing it to properly close its jaws and keep the inside of its mouth moist.
The biggest difference, however, is its posture. WWD portrays Postosuchus as an obligate quadruped, “too top-heavy to walk on two legs”. As our understanding of raisuchian anatomy has improved in the two decades since, however, it has become clear that the front legs of Postosuchus were actually physically incapable of functioning as walking limbs. This means more modern Postosuchus reconstructions have pulled a 180 and now portray it as a fully bipedal animal. We were so close though!!
Personally,Postosuchus was one of the most iconic species from WWD growing up, and I spent plenty of hours on my hands and knees roaring and attacking imaginary Placerias. The colour patterns on this one are superb, which I’ll probably be saying very frequently. The vibrant sandy reds and browns make it blend with the desert environment, and it wasn’t until closely examining the design for this that I noticed there’s a bit of blue-grey in there as well!
So yeah, that’s Postosuchus! An already-weird land-crocodile apex predator that’s turned out to be and even weirder bipedal land-crocodile apex predator with uncomfortably human-like legs and tiny little baby hands. Look at those, they’re adorable!
(Drawn with Krita, using skeletal references by Scott Hartman)
The pandemic has been a tragedy for so many. While you’re hunkered down, brighten a friend’s day by sending them one of five CopyCroc postcards. Five adorable “crocs” pose with their cute namesakes. Who wouldn’t be cheered up? We hope you’re well.
Herbivorous croc lineages independently evolved at least three times during the Mesozoic – and some of them developed incredibly mammal-like teeth, too!
