Imagine unearthing a creature that walked the Earth 95 million years ago, a tiny croc with a quirky set of teeth and a taste for adventure! Meet Elton, a teenage crocodyliform who was just 2 feet long but whose discovery is shaking up our understanding of prehistoric life.

The rocky shores of what is now southwest Montana were once home to an extraordinary lineage of crocodile-like creatures. A recent study has unveiled the first fossil of Thikarisuchus xenodentes, nicknamed Elton, discovered during a dig in the Blackleaf geological formation, dating back to the middle of the Cretaceous period. This discovery, made by Harrison Allen, a doctoral student in paleontology at Stony Brook University, was a serendipitous find that has opened up a whole new chapter in our understanding of croc evolution.

Allen, who stumbled upon Elton's skull while an undergraduate at Montana State University, described the moment as transformative. 'We found dinosaurs before, but this was only the second vertebrate ever found in the Blackleaf,' he said. The excitement in his voice is palpable as he recalls the discovery of a tiny, perfectly preserved croc skull embedded in rock.
It was a 'tiny, tiny croc skull, fully articulated and preserved,' making it something special in the world of paleontology.

Elton belonged to the now-extinct Wannchampsidae family, a unique group within the lineage of Neosuchia, which comprises all modern crocodilians and their closest extinct relatives. Unlike their larger cousins, Elton and his species were much smaller, expected to reach only 3 feet in length if they survived to adulthood. What’s fascinating is that Neosuchians typically have simple, conical teeth suited for a carnivorous diet, but Elton and his kin possessed an array of differently shaped teeth, designed for a more diverse menu of plants and insects.

This little croc didn't just float around in the water; it thrived on land and possibly made burrows, as indicated by the density of Elton's fossilized bones. Digging deeper into the sediment surrounding Elton, Allen spent countless hours excavating bone fragments and reconstructing the skeleton with the help of his classmate, all while jamming to Elton John's iconic hit 'Crocodile Rock'—a fitting tribute to their ancient croc.

With the help of cutting-edge CT scans, Allen was able to piece together the croc’s skeletal structure, revealing an intricate biology that connects it to ancient ecosystems long lost to time. This discovery is more than just fossil; it opens a window into a world where evolution had similar ideas on opposite sides of the globe. Researchers noted the similarities between Elton and another croc family, Atopasauridae, found in Eurasia, suggesting a phenomenon known as convergent evolution, where unrelated species develop similar traits in response to similar environmental pressures.

Published on September 22 in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, this study not only highlights the importance of Elton in understanding croc evolution but also poses intriguing questions about how life adapts in varied environments. The story of Elton is a reminder that even the smallest creature can have a massive impact on our understanding of Earth’s prehistoric past.