In Depth Further Reading - Acinonyx pardinensis (Carnivora, Felidae) from the Early Pleistocene of Pantalla (Italy): predatory behavior and ecological role of the giant Plio-Pleistocene cheetah. - Quarternary Science Reviews 87 82-97 - Marco Cherin, Dawid Adam Iurino, Raffaele Sardella & Lorenzo Rool - 2014.
In Depth Nimravus - Not a Cat! Nimravus is the type genus of the Nimravidae group of mammals that are better known as the ‘false sabre-toothed cats’. This is because while Nimravus and others like it looked like the big cats, they actually evolved from a different line of mammals than the true cats that … Read more
In Depth Mammacyon was a ‘bear dog’ that has been assigned to the Temnocyoninae, and not surprisingly is thought to have been considered to be similar to the group type genus Temnocyon. Mammacyon seems to have been active at the same time as Temnocyon as well as many of the same locations, although the current … Read more
In Depth At almost seventy kilos, Adilophontes was a large daphoenine bear dog, a group of bear dogs so far only known from North America. This large size meant that it was even larger than the largest species of Hyaenodon in North America, H. horridus, and along with other large forms such as Amphicyon and … Read more
In Depth Although fossil remains form China have been attributed to Sansanosmilus (for the species S. palmidans), most of the currently known fossils come from Europe. This would suggest that the highest population density for Sansanosmilus was in Europe, however caution should be used before coming to this conclusion since fossil deposits of certain times … Read more
In Depth Siamogale is a genus of otter that once lived in Asia during the Miocene/Pliocene. Further Reading - Feeding capability in the extinct giant Siamogale melilutra and comparative mandibular biomechanics of living Lutrinae. - Scientific Reports. 7 (1): 1–10. - Z. Jack Tseng, Denise F. Su, Xiaoming Wang, Stuart C. White & Xueping Ji … Read more
In Depth Eofelis is one of the better known nimravids from Western Europe. Initially there was only one species but re-evaluation of the known fossils has determined that the larger specimens are actually those of a distinct species from the smaller remains, leading to the creation of E. giganteus. Further Reading – A new species … 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.
In Depth Not to be confused with the bear dogs which were dog-like mammals that resembled bears; Hemicyon was what is loosely termed a dog bear, which is a bear that is more dog-like. In simple terms, Hemicyon was more closely related to bears than dogs. Hemicyon had a very important difference between it and … Read more