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Crocodilia facts for kids

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Crocodilians
Temporal range: Upper Cretaceous – Recent
Crocodylus acutus mexico 01.jpg
American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus)
Scientific classification
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Order:
Crocodilia

Owen, 1842
Families

The Order Crocodilia is a group of Archosaur reptiles. There are three living families.

Crocodiles are the nearest living relatives to birds, because they are both survivors of the Archosaurs.

Crocodiles are first found in the Upper Cretaceous period. They are descendents of a much wider group of Archosaurs called the Crocodylomorphs. These, in the Upper Triassic, were slender land-living forms, the sister group of the dinosaurs.

The Crocodylomorphs, in turn, were part of an even larger group, the Crurotarsi, which are first seen early in the Triassic.

Taxonomy

Crocodylidae Distribution
Distribution of crocodiles

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See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Crocodilios para niños

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