Scientists have unearthed Australia's oldest known crocodile eggshells which may have belonged to drop crocs - creatures that climbed trees to hunt prey below.
The discovery of the 55-million-year-old eggshells was made in a sheep farmer's backyard in Queensland with the findings published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
The eggshells belonged to a long-extinct group of crocodiles known as mekosuchines, who lived in inland waters when Australia was part of Antarctica and South America.
Co-author Prof Michael Archer said drop crocs were a bizarre idea but some were perhaps hunting like leopards - dropping out of trees on any unsuspecting thing they fancied for dinner.
Prof Archer, a palaeontologist at the University of New South Wales, noted that mekosuchine crocodiles could grow to about five metres and were plentiful 55 million years ago, long before modern saltwater and freshwater cousins arrived in Australia about 3.8 million years ago.
The drop croc eggshells were discovered several decades ago but only recently analysed with the help of scientists in Spain.
Prof Archer describes the drop crocs as likely terrestrial hunters in the forests. The findings build upon earlier discoveries of mekosuchine fossils found in 25-million-year-old deposits elsewhere in Queensland.
Excavations near Murgon, a small town about 270km northwest of Brisbane, have unveiled a lush prehistoric environment housing songbirds, frogs, snakes, and early mammals.
Prof Archer recalls how their research team approached a local resident in 1983 to excavate their backyard, leading to significant discoveries that promise even more surprises in further explorations.
