The newfound, cat-size crocodile Pakasuchus kapilimai (illustrated) had mammal-like teeth that helped give the fossil crocodile a power previously unknown among reptiles: the ability to chew.

One key to that ability is that the 105-million-year-old crocodile's lower jaw could slide back and forth (inset).

"Crocodiles alive today don't have a major sliding component to their jaw," said lead study author Patrick O'Connor, an Ohio University paleontologist. "It's just a hinged joint that allows the jaw to move up and down."(Read the full story of the mammal-like crocodile.)—with reporting by Ker Than