Kubanochoerus
Name:
Kubanochoerus.
Phonetic: Ku-ban-oh-coe-rus.
Named By: Gabunia - 1955.
Classification: Chordata, Mammalia,
Artiodactyla, Suidae.
Species: K. gigas, K.
lantianensis, K. mancharensis, K.
minheensis, K. parvus, K. robustus.
Diet: Herbivore/Omnivore?
Size: Largest species such as K. gigas up to
1.2 meters tall at the shoulder.
Known locations: Scattered across Africa and Eurasia.
Time period: Burdigalian to Tortonian of the Miocene.
Fossil representation: Many individuals.
Kubanochoerus
is a genus of extinct long legged pig that seems to have had a very
broad distribution reaching from Russia to China and across to at least
eastern Africa throughout most of the Miocene. The most distinctive
feature of Kubanochoerus is the skull which is
proportionately long
when compared to modern pigs, but does have roughly the same
proportions as the entelodonts,
pig-like long legged mammals that
came to decline during the early Miocene.
Most
notable about the skull of Kubanochoerus is the
large bony protrusion
that rose up from the top of the skull which would have been the basis
for the horn. This horn angled forwards as has been speculated to
only have been present in males, suggesting a display and possibly
offensive purpose for the horn. Two much smaller horns rose up from
the eyebrows.
Kubanochoerus
were probably primarily herbivorous animals that spent their time
foraging through the undergrowth for food on plants growing near or
just under the ground. However as any keeper of pigs will tell
you, pigs will eat almost anything edible you give them,
including meat, so it’s not inconceivable that Kubanochoerus
may
have also scavenged the carcasses of other animals, and perhaps even
killed and eaten smaller animals that they may have disturbed while
foraging. Predatory threats to Kubanochoerus
would have included the
animals such as nimravids
(false sabre toothed cats) and
amphicyonids
(bear dogs) in the earlier stages of the Miocene,
while gradually replaced by machairodonts
(true sabre-toothed cats)
and canids in the later stages of the Miocene.
Further reading
- Estimating the Preservation of Tooth Structures Towards a new Scale
of Observation - Journal of Taphonomy, vol5, issue 1 -
Yannicke Dauphin, Stephane Monttuelle, Cecile Quantin &
Pierre Massard - 2007.
-
A new species of Kubanochoerus (Suidae, Artiodactyla) from the Linxia
Basin, Gansu Province, China. - Vertebrata PalAsiatica - Hou Su-Kuan
& Tau Deng - 2019.
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