| Hyaenodon mustelinus
Taxonomy: Class Mammalia, Order Creodonta, Family Hyaenodontidae
Geological Time: Middle Oligocene
Size: 160 mm x 80 mm total height is 60 mm
Fossil Site: Shannon County, South Dakota
Item: AA009
Price: $3995.00
Remarks: Hyaenodons belong to an extinct group of mammals called creodonts
that were a dominant and diverse group of mammalian predators during
the Eocene and Oligocene. There are two families of creodonts. Hyaenodonts
were greatly reduced in the late Oligocene meeting extinction in North
America, but one genus from Asia survived into the Pliocene. Creodonts
were more primitive than the true carnivores. Although their teeth
were clearly adapted for eating meat, they were less specialized than
those of the carnivores. Their limbs were also not as well adapted
for running. Many paleontologists believe that they were unable to
cope with the faster ungulates that appeared at the beginning of the
Miocene. This is a superbly preserved and prepared specimen. |
