How many of you have heard of the popular riddle? Which came first? The chicken or the egg?

That's a tough one, isn't it? You can't have a chicken without an egg, and you can't have an egg

without a chicken. Well, I came across another interesting question lately, and it goes like this.

Which came first? The alligator or the crocodile? What do you think? Do you think it was the crocodile or the alligator? Or are they the same and evolved at the same time?

Luckily, this question is much easier to answer. Are you ready? The answer is the crocodile arrived on the evolutionary scene earlier than the alligator, actually 25 million years earlier.

Crocodile fossils have been discovered and dated to about 90 million years ago.

Alligators, however, only appeared on the planet around 65 million years ago.

But the alligator shouldn't feel too bad.

Both alligators and crocodiles are part of the crocodilian family,

and this family tree dates back around 230 million years. So basically, crocodiles are the older brother or sister to the alligators.

Maybe a good way to remember this fact is to think of the song Crocodile Rock.

And this will make you think crocodiles are as old as rocks.

So what are crocodilians?

They are predatory reptiles that live in water and on land.

And get this, they are the closest living relative to birds.

That's right, B-I-R-D-S.

But how is that possible?

One has wings and flies in the air, the other has legs, and swims underwater.

Talk about crazy cousins.

One looks nothing like the other, just like in our own families sometimes.

And the answer to this question is, birds and crocodilians are the sole surviving species

of a broader group of dinosaurs called archosaurs, which include terrosaurs, or flying reptiles.

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