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[–] 55 points 8 months ago (7 children)

Alternatively, if it has worked for tens of millions of years, then why is no one else doing it?

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  • [–] 43 points 8 months ago (7 children)

    Did not realise that also included other crocodiles?

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  • [–] 53 points 8 months ago (5 children)

    Chomp first ask questions later.

    I remember feeling really sad watching some nature show and they mentioned how they just bite whatever touches their mouth and sure enough it bumped into another croc floating next to it and it bit and spun off the other crocs leg

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  • [–] 36 points 8 months ago* (2 children)

    I know exactly the video you're taking about and it reminds me of something that I find mind-blowing. Just like crocodilians, sharks haven't evolved much in millions of years. But there can be a seemingly chaotic and fast paced feeding frenzy involving a dozen sharks all competing to grab a bite of something and somehow they don't bite each other. How they manage to tell peer from prey in conditions like that I have no idea.

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  • [–] 21 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    Reptilian muscles fatigue waaay faster than mammalian's. That's probably the reason why chewing doesn't work for them. Also, the white muscle from reptiles is very good at giving explosive force, which is exactly what they are doing instead...

    This is a physiological difference given their evolution. I remember it from college. Biologist here.

    And . the same applies to why we can't catch lizards, they are so fast.. Right?.. until they aren't. The trick to catch them is to make them run a little ;p

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  • [–] 19 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    My impression is that carnivores need teeth that pierce and rip, so they can't do much ruminating.

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  • [–] 9 points 8 months ago

    Most mammalian carnivores have a sort of mix. They have the piercing canines, then their molars act like scissors to slice off hunks of meat. Herbivore and human molars are more for crushing.

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  • [–] 12 points 8 months ago (2 children)
  • [–] 11 points 8 months ago

    Thats not... inaccurate.

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  • [–] 10 points 8 months ago

    Can't iterate on perfection.

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  • [–] 10 points 8 months ago (7 children)
  • [–] 17 points 8 months ago (6 children)

    "Ain't broke" is under selling this. Evolutionarily, this is clearly the optimal solution.

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  • [–] 18 points 8 months ago (3 children)

    "Ain't broke" is a lot better of a description than "fittest".

    Evolution selects for the first thing that happens to work. It' doesn't have to work particularly well, only well enough to not die from it.

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  • [–] 11 points 8 months ago

    It's also a local maxima trap. To shift to chewing, they would have to change both bite behaviour, and teeth structure. The intermediate stage is a lot worse than either style.

    Even if chewing was the better option, it's inaccessible from the crocs current method.

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  • [–] 9 points 8 months ago

    It must be working, considering the results.

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  • [–] 9 points 8 months ago

    These jaws aren't suited for chewing. They're suited for tearing.

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  • [–] 7 points 8 months ago

    Crocodillians are so fucking cool!

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  • [–] 7 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    I misread "buttfucking" as "butterfucking", which I am now going to start using.

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  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago

    And now I just imagine them as wrestlers suplexing their meals.

    A croc themed beat em up game would be fuckin hilarious

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  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago

    Nice to know Demo hasn't died of alcoholism yet. Still waiting on that next video though

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago

    Croc = Orcc

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago

    Yeah for real, being that tense while eating can’t be good for your digestive system.

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