All todays: the mystery of crocodile skin colored

Well, this is just a improvement of color to one of my All today's creations. 

If in some point all crocodiles would have been extinct, In which the first paleontologists of a future sapient species were based to have an idea about how crocodiles could look?

Would see their "reptilian" features and make it good idea to rebuild it as a lizard, or its distant relationship with the birds would give them a feathered touch?
Who knows

Original dragontunders.deviantart.com/a…