SUPERCROC VS. INDRICOTHERE: WHO WOULD WIN?

Byline: David Kronke TV Critic

After the Discovery Channel's wild success with such programs as ``Walking With Dinosaurs'' and its unearthing an ancient woolly mammoth (or at least a tusk and some fur), the computer-animated nature documentary depicting prehistoric monsters has become big business.

Tonight, two vie for your attention: ``SuperCroc,'' airing on both NBC and the National Geographic Channel, and ``Walking With Prehistoric Beasts,'' a trip further along the evolutionary ladder from the folks who took you on strolls with dinosaurs. As usual, the crowd-pleasing aspects overwhelm any educational aspects, which are almost touchingly included nonetheless.

``National Geographic Channel Presents SuperCroc'' unveils paleontologist Paul Sereno's amazing discovery in the Sahara Desert. In what was a wetland 100 million years ago, Sereno found the 6-foot-long skull of a crocodile. Sereno and croc expert Brady Barr estimate the whole critter was about 40 feet long, with its jaw boasting a probable bite force of a whopping 18,000 pounds.

In addition to the obligatory educational material - crocs can change the direction of their blood flow and can go a year without eating - there's the stuff viewers sign on to these things for. Marvel at grisly footage of crocodiles attacking their prey, footage shot inside a live croc's stomach, scenes of Barr and Sereno trying to capture fiercely irritable reptiles (the precise scientific point behind these shenanigans eludes me, but it makes for plenty of drama) and computer-generated scenarios of SuperCroc's predatory lifestyle.

``Walking With Prehistoric Beasts'' is, like its predecessors, a collection of bizarre and/or cool-looking beasties. They're depicted, via dazzling computer animation, in daily life-and-death struggles against one another and the unforgiving elements. There's also a smattering of actual science (including an edifying bit on ancient dung). Tonight's special brings us up to Australopithecus, basically just hairier versions of us who hadn't yet quite risen to the top of the food chain.

Some of the animals you'll behold are the leptictidium, a hopping, long- nosed scamp whose name means ``small weasel''; the entelodont, a 6-foot-tall boarlike monstrosity that's both stupid and aggressive, and the indricothere, a rhino ancestor who was the largest land mammal in history and, as such, is drolly shown here stomping the theoretical camera.

``NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL PRESENTS SUPERCROC''

What: Documentary about a recently unearthed ancient skeleton of the world's largest crocodile.

The stars: Sam Neill (narrator).

Where: NBC and National Geographic Channel.

When: 7 (on NBC) and 8 (on National Geographic Channel) tonight.

Our rating: Three stars

``WALKING WITH PREHISTORIC BEASTS''

What: Computer-animated documentary about Earth's earliest mammals.

The stars: Stockard Channing (narrator).

Where: Discovery.

When: 7 tonight.

Our rating: Three stars

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Look! Down in the swamp! It's a gator - it's a leviathan - it's SuperCroc! The prehistoric predator stars tonight on NBC and National Geographic Channel.