Purussaurus

prehistoric · caiman · ancient reptile · South America

Massive river hunter. Purussaurus was one of the largest caimans ever to exist, making it a fearsome predator in the rivers and wetlands of South America during the Miocene epoch.

Amazon and beyond. Scientists have found fossils of Purussaurus in the Amazon regions of Brazil and Peru, as well as in Argentina, Colombia, Panama, and Venezuela, showing it lived across much of South America.

Known from skulls. We know about Purussaurus mainly from skull remains that paleontologists discovered, which tell us about its size and how it hunted.

Ancient times. Purussaurus lived during the Miocene epoch, millions of years before humans walked the Earth, when the climate and landscape of South America were very different.