In Depth The Sicilian wolf is a distinct sub species of the gray wolf with the species designation Canis lupus cristaldii. The Sicilian wolf was similar to those known from Italy, though with lighter more tawny coloured fur. The dark band across the forelimbs of the Italian wolf was absent or at most faintly … Read more
In Depth Borophagus is the last of the known line of ‘bone-crunching dogs’ (also known as ‘hyena dogs’) that roamed the plains of North America. Although Borophagus was smaller than its ancestors such as Epicyon, its skull was considerably better adapted to crushing bones. This seems to be a trait of a creature that relied … Read more
In Depth Further Reading – Preliminary report on a recently discovered Pleistocene cave deposit near Cumberland, Maryland. – J. W. Gidley – 1913. – Phylogenetic systematics of the North American fossil Caninae (Carnivora, Canidae) – Richard H. Tedford, Xiaoming Wang, Beryl E. Taylor – 2009.
In Depth A relative of such genera as Aelurodon and Borophagus, Tomarctus is another one of the hyena-like ‘bone crushing’ dogs of the Miocene. This description comes from the attachments for powerful jaw closing muscles and short muzzle which means that when borophagine canids like Tomarctus bit on something, it was closer to the point … Read more
In Depth Originally thought to represent an extinct species of Cerdocyon (crab eating fox), C. avius was moved to its own genus and named Ferrucyon in 2020. Ferrucyon is also thought to be more of a vulpine type of fox. Further reading - The Pliocene canid Cerdocyon avius was not the type of fox that … Read more
In Depth Further Reading – The late Cenozoic vertebrate faunas from the San Pedro Valley, Ariz. – Proceedings of the United States National Museum 92: 475–518. – C. L. Gazin – 1942.
In Depth Further Reading Further reading- New carnivore material from the Plio-Pleistocene of Macedonia (Greece) with the description of a new canid. – Munchner Geowissenschaft Abteilung A 34:33-63. – G. D. Koufos & D.S. Kostopoulos – 1997.
In Depth Although it had a skull more like that of a big cat, Epicyon was an early ancestor to canines. Epicyon is noted for having an incredibly powerful body that may have weighed up to one hundred and seventy kilograms (for Epicyon haydeni). Its unusually shaped skull meant that Epicyon had a very short … Read more
In Depth Along with the type genus Borophagus, Aelurodon is one of the better known of the so called ‘bone crushing dogs’ of the Borophaginae. Canids like Aelurodon got their nickname from the form of their short snouts which have also been described as hyena-like. Because of their shortness, the snout force food towards the … Read more
In Depth Further Reading Further reading- Late Tertiary Canids from Central Mexico. – Journal of Paleontology 72(3):546-556. – W. E. Miller & O. Carranza-Castaneda – 1998.