Don’t judge this animal by some of the Estemmenosuchus pictures on the Internet today.
Illustrating images
That’s because most of them make these animals look like some kind of crazy hippopotamus with elaborate head crests.
Which can make it look pretty scary. However, it probably wasn’t all that scary in real life.
Illustrating images
It was probably more like a modern cow.
Estemmenosuchus was about 13 feet long and weighed around 500 pounds. Its body was very much like a cow’s body except it had legs that were shorter than a cow’s legs.
Its skull had a lot of different bony knots on it, which were probably used to protect itself from predators and wasn’t used as a weapon.
And while this animal had sharp forward pointing teeth, they probably were mainly used for eating plant material such as cycads and conifers.
Illustrating images
One of the most interesting facts about Estemmenosuchus is that its large body is usually indicative of the digestive system of a herbivore.
Herbivores, like cows, usually have larger bodies to accommodate all of the digestive plumbing needed to digest plant material effectively.
Which is why scientists believe that it lived mainly on plants. Although scientists haven’t ruled out that it may have had meat on occasion.
Its leg orientation also suggests that it was an herbivore. Its back legs are positioned directly over its hips.
The bones of the “king crocodile” are on display
This suggests that it may have done a lot of walking, as having the legs in this position would have offered efficient locomotion.
Its front legs, however, splayed more to the sides. This would allow it to easily push the front part of its body down to eat grasses and other plant materials.
In other words, it really seems like the body of Estemmenosuchus was more suited to eating plants than animals.
