Description
- Crocodile Scute – (Borealosuchus, Stangerochampsa or possibly Brachychampsa montana)
- Cretaceous Age
- Hell Creek Formation
- Garfield County, Montana
- Specimen measures approx. .31″ wide and will come in a 1.25″ Gem Jar with ID
Inside the scute is a bone that helps protect the alligator from attack. Crocodiles have numerous special features that have allowed them to stick around for 180 million years. For example, crocodiles are armor-plated. Bony plates inside the skin, called osteoderms or scutes, make the skin very hard to penetrate.
Osteoderms are bony scutes embedded underneath the dermal layers of the skin acting as a protection of the internal organs and tissues. Additionally, these scutes function as an aid in temperature regulation. The scutes are inter-linked by fibrous connective tissue.
