Troll_Man
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WWD: Smok wawelski
🕑 Added 2023-04-12 23:46:10 +0000 UTCThis is the Postosuchus equivalent in this revamped version, a large predatory archosaur from Poland. Its exact classification is under dispute, specifically whether it was a large carnivorous theropod or a sort of dinosaur-like "rauisuchian". Here, I've gone with the interpretation of Smok being a Postosuchus-like rauisuchian (which is not without precedence when comparing skeletal anatomy). Both were estimated at about 5-6 metres in length and therefore were about the same size. It might not have been the largest carnivore on Earth, but it was at least the largest predator in Europe at the time.
WWD's interpretation of Postosuchus portrayed the animal as a slow quadruped hunter, although more recent studies have suggested that it was actually facultatively or even obligately bipedal. It's a moot point anyway because Smok is also thought to be bipedal. I also considered the rauisuchian Teratosaurus, but Smok is known from better fossils, and is known to have fed on dicynodonts, so the same predator-prey relationship as the WWD episode can be retained with evidence (although the dicynodont in question was much, much bigger than Placerias...).
