For the sake of the research, the game is diversification. In that sense, crocodillians lose. They haven't diversified very much. These researchers aren't saying that crocs have a bad evolutionary strategy (they mustn't because they're still around); they admit that the design has worked for that group and that it's pretty interesting. I think people have grasped the wrong part of this article.
That said, I personally think that the ability to diversify and invade new habitats/take advantage of different conditions is pretty dang nifty.
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