Lucy’s Hunter: A giant Pliocene crocodile hunted early hominins in Ethiopia
Scientists describe Crocodylus lucivenator ('Lucy’s Hunter'), a 12–15 ft (3.7–4.6 m) crocodile from Ethiopia’s Hadar Formation, as the era’s largest predator around 3.4–3 million years ago and a likely hunter of Australopithecus afarensis (Lucy), with a distinctive mid-snout hump and ambush-style hunting across Hadar’s varied landscapes.
