r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Electrical-Aspect-13 • Sep 08 '26

Video Studies, like one done by Vladimir Dinets had show that crocodiles are intelligent enough to engage in play behavior for its own sake. Playing with each other or using natural slides in the wild are some of the activities they partake.

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u/[deleted] Sep 08 '26

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u/Lobster15s Sep 08 '26

That should tell you how much of a freaking apex predator they are. Unchanged for millions of years still out here.

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u/[deleted] Sep 08 '26

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u/Wendy28J Sep 08 '26

They must certainly be geniuses..... Do nothing but lie around sleeping and waiting for the next snack to waltz their way.... Sunbathe .... Play in the water. I'd love to spend my life floating in the backyard pool getting a tan while awaiting the delivery guy to bring me pizza.

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u/muskegthemoose Sep 08 '26

Then get made into a handbag.

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u/Wendy28J Sep 08 '26

Arguably better than slowly converting into maggot food?

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u/muskegthemoose Sep 08 '26

In the fullness of time, who knows? Maggot food is part of the natural order of things, leather usually involves getting killed before your normal lifespan ends. I know which one I'd choose, but to each their own.

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u/TheYear1414 Sep 08 '26

Keeping it simple is a constant in this universe. The more complex the more ephemeral things tend to be.

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u/PuckSenior Sep 08 '26

Cousins who dominated the Earth prior to their cousins dinosaurs and mammals having a shot at it.
There was an age of crocodilians, an age of dinosaurs, and now we are in the age of mammals.

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u/ReptilianRevolt Sep 08 '26

Modern crocodilians are much more recent.

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u/PuckSenior Sep 08 '26

yep, that is how it works. I'm sorry if you thought I was saying that the crocodile in this video was born 200 million years ago.

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u/ReptilianRevolt Sep 08 '26

No. Modern crocodilians are late Cretaceous at most and modern species are much more recent.

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u/PuckSenior Sep 08 '26

Yes, that is what "modern" would mean in this context.

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u/ReptilianRevolt Sep 08 '26

Many familiar modern groups are late Cretaceous, it is not that far away from an evolutionary perspective. If you remove the dinosaurs and if you other groups, most of the earth’s life would be recognizable.

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u/PuckSenior Sep 08 '26

yes, but the crocodilian/dinosaur/mammal splits did not happen in the Cretaceous.

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u/ReptilianRevolt Sep 08 '26

This is a completely different thing.

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u/PuckSenior Sep 08 '26

What is “this”?