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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →The crocodile most likely behind this headline is Herugavialis cairensis, an extinct gavial identified from a fossil skull collected in Egypt in the 1920s. Scientists did not find a living animal: a new study, published October 6, 2026, reclassifies the old fossil as a species distinct from the false gharial, Tomistoma. The exact article that inspired the supplied headline could not be confirmed, so this identification is the best-supported match rather than a certainty.
What crocodile did scientists identify?
The likely match is Herugavialis cairensis, a newly described extinct crocodilian from Egypt. The study appeared in Royal Society Open Science on October 6, 2026, under DOI 10.1098/rsos.261173. The journal page was not available in the reporting reviewed here, so the account of the find and its context relies on Popular Science’s October 6 report and its attribution to the study and researchers.
The specimen is a relatively well-preserved skull, though the tip of its snout is missing. It came from the Mokattam Formation, which the report dates to about 45 million years ago. Researchers had previously classified the Egyptian fossils as belonging to Tomistoma, the living false gharial, because of their resemblance. The new study instead identifies them as a distinct species.
Why is this a new discovery if the fossil is old?
The fossil itself was recovered nearly a century ago. What is new is the taxonomic identification: researchers reassessed the material and concluded it represented a species that had not been recognized before. In other words, scientists did not encounter an unknown crocodile in the field; they recognized a different animal in a fossil already held in the scientific record.
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The available report does not provide enough detail to explain the precise skull features that distinguish Herugavialis from Tomistoma. It is therefore safest to describe the result as a revised scientific classification rather than attribute it to a particular snout shape or other anatomical character.
What does the name have to do with the Sphinx?
The name combines a reference to Heru, an Egyptian god, with Cairo. Study coauthor Philip Mannion, an evolutionary biologist at University College London, said the team chose Heru partly because the crocodile’s missing snout tip coincided with the famously missing nose of the Great Sphinx. That is a naming parallel—not evidence that the fossil was found at the monument or that the animal establishes who inspired the Sphinx.
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- Bone highly stratified, retro and old look. All processes are made by sanding. It has a very realistic sense of history. Classic or retro-adapting to any furnishings and collectibles for all fans of wildlife and fossil fans! Dimensions (approx.): 48 * 15 * 13 cm / 18.8 x 5.9 x 5.1 "Weight: 3000g / 105.8 ONCIA.
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What does the fossil tell us about ancient crocodiles?
Gavials are long-snouted crocodilians. Popular Science reports that two species are recognized as living today: the gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) and the false gharial (Tomistoma schlegelii). Fossil evidence indicates that gavials were more widespread in the past, including in shallow marine environments.
The Egyptian species adds to evidence for a diverse crocodile community around the ancient Mediterranean. According to the report, shallow seas in the region at the time of the Mokattam Formation hosted at least two other gavial crocodile species as well. Coauthor Paul Burke, a paleontologist at the Swedish Museum of Natural History, said Mediterranean crocodile diversity fluctuated in ways that seem to correspond with global temperature and sea-level changes. He said crocodiles disappeared from the region after the Mediterranean dried about 6 million years ago; that connection is the researchers’ interpretation as reported by Popular Science.
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- learning tool - which will allow you to conduct in -depth research and study, effectively combining theory and practice, and improve learning efficiency ..
- Bone highly stratified, retro and old look. All processes are made by sanding. It has a very realistic sense of history. Classic or retro-adapting to any furnishings and collectibles for all fans of wildlife and fossil fans! Dimensions (approx.): 48 * 15 * 13 cm / 18.8 x 5.9 x 5.1 "Weight: 3000g / 105.8 ONCIA.
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Is this the same crocodile found in Ethiopia?
No. Herugavialis cairensis is the likely match for the October 2026 Egypt headline. A separate species, Crocodylus lucivenator (“Lucy’s hunter”), was described in March 2026 from fossils at Hadar, Ethiopia. The University of Iowa says researchers examined 121 catalogued remains and dated the species to about 3.4 million to 3 million years ago. It lived in the same region and period as Australopithecus afarensis. That Ethiopian crocodile is a different species, from a different place and a much more recent period than the Egyptian fossil.
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