In Depth The Oligocene and Miocene periods were times of change for the world’s ecosystems, particularly those of the northern hemisphere. Long covered by temperate and in places tropical forests, these were now steadily being replaced by grassy plains. Parahippus is a horse that shows a shift towards coping with these changing environments. Primitive horse … Read more
In Depth Gobiconodon has been perceived to have been a possum-like animal, as well as one of the larger mammals alive during the Early Cretaceous. Although most fossils associated with Gobiconodon are known from Asia, some fossil remains are also known from the USA. Gobiconodon lived during the early Cretaceous and most species of are … Read more
In Depth Further Reading – Anm�rkningar vid Genus Trichechi. Kongl. – Vetenskaps Academiens nya handlingar 2(15):286-300. – A. J. Retzius – 1794. – A new species of hydrodamaline Sirenia from Hokkaido, Japan. – Takikawa Museum of Art and Natural History. pp. 1–73. – H. Furusawa – 1988. – A phylogeny of the North Pacific Sirenia … Read more
In Depth Juchilestes is a genus of amphidont mammal that lived in China during the early Cretaceous. Further Reading - A new mammal skull from the Lower Cretaceous of China with implications for the evolution of obtuse-angled molars and ‘amphilestid’ eutriconodonts. - Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 277:237-246. - C. -L. Gao, … Read more
In Depth Dated to the Oligocene period, Ysengrinia is one of the earliest of the larger bear dogs (earlier ones like Cynodictis were smaller) and lived at a time when the world was dominated by creodont predators. Further Reading – New carnivores from the basal Middle Miocene of Arrisdrift, Namibia. – Eclogae geologicae Helvetiae 91:27-40. … Read more
In Depth Hailing from southern China, Guangxicyon is noted for having a short face, something which may have been an adaptation for focusing the force of the jaw closing muscles for an increased bite force. This may have been enough to allow Guangxicyon enough bite force to crunch through bones. Other short faced bear dogs … Read more
In Depth Originally classed as a species of Pliohippus, Dinohippus seems to have been one of the most common horses in prehistoric North America. Dinohippus is considered to have been very close to the modern horse genus Equus, and like modern horses, Dinohippus lacked a dished face. Dinohippus was once considered to have been an … Read more
In Depth Whenever you hear someone mention a ‘Sabre Toothed Tiger’, what they are really talking about, whether they realise it themselves or not, is Smilodon. This is because Smilodon does not belong to the same cat family as Tigers, which belong to the Pantherinae group. As a member of the Machairodontinae, a more acceptable … Read more
In Depth Protororqualus is a genus of rorqual baleen whale that lived in European waters during the Pliocene period. Protororqualus is seen to be more primitive in form and living at time when other kinds of rorqual whales were already developing more advanced features. Further reading - Taxonomic revision and phylogenetic relationships of the rorqual-like … Read more
In Depth The description of an almost complete Phoberomys pattersoni in 2000 led to worldwide headlines of Ratzilla (after the Japanese kaiju Godzilla). These rare remains allowed for one of the most accurate size estimates of this genus which led to it being considered as one of the largest rodents ever to live, although despite … Read more