Dog Fossil Represents New Species of 'Bone Crusher'
Source: Discovery News
[font size=1]Shown is a representation of the new dog species Cynarctus wangi.[/font]
Dog Fossil Represents New Species of 'Bone Crusher'
MAY 12, 2016 02:52 PM ET // BY DISCOVERY NEWS
A 12-million-year-old fossil unearthed in Maryland represents a new dog species with a strong bite.
In a study published in the Journal of Paleontology, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania describe Cynarctus wangi, a creature roughly the size of a modern coyote that likely would have behaved a bit like a hyena.
The canid lived during the middle Miocene and was part of an extinct family of dogs known as bone crushers, due to their strong jaws and big teeth.
The “bone crusher” family of dogs (Borophaginae) lived all over North America between 10 million to 30 million years ago. The researchers think the new dog likely went the way of extinction because it wasn’t able to compete with the ancestors of modern wolves, coyotes and foxes.
Notwithstanding the fierce nickname of its overarching family, the scientists don’t think C. wangi was 100-percent carnivorous. Its teeth lead the researchers to believe about two-thirds of the dog's meals would have been non-meat, the animal getting by on plants and insects and “living more like a mini-bear than like a dog,” according to the study’s lead author, Penn doctoral student Steven E. Jasinski.
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Read more: http://news.discovery.com/animals/dog-fossil-represents-new-species-of-bone-crusher-160512.htm
