Evidence of ancient tree-climbing 'drop crocs' found in Australia

Scientists say the crocodiles hunted like leopards by climbing trees and killing prey below.

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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 egghells 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, said mekosuchine crocodiles - which could grow to about five metres - were plentiful 55 million years ago, long before their modern saltwater and freshwater cousins arrived in Australia about 3.8 million years ago.