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Hyena and relatives
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http://www.eartharchives.org/articles/rh...predators/
Dinocrocuta gigantea, a hyena-like predator was one of the biggest and strongest carnivores to stalk the ancient grasslands of China. Its bite was strong enough to crush bones and it dominated its contemporary herbivores. One fossil shows us that it was clearly unafraid to take on animals much bigger than itself: Tooth marks in the skull of a massive tusked rhinoceros.  *This image is copyright of its original author
http://www.livescience.com/19316-cave-hy...-poop.html
By reading the genes in ancient poop, researchers have uncovered the diet and descendents of the cave hyena, which roamed throughout Eurasia alongside the Neanderthals. The cave hyena, named Crocuta crocuta spelaea, lived for about 1 million years in Eurasia, before dying out some 10,000 to 30,000 years ago. Not only were they about 25 percent larger than modern hyenas, they were also more powerful and had a stronger bite, study researcher Jean-Marc Elalouf, of the Instituteof Biology and Technology Saclay, in France, told LiveScience. The new data suggest that these prehistoric predators were probably a subspecies of the modern spotted hyena and liked to dine on red deer. 
I think Dinocrocuta and Hyena belong to the same superfamily in the way like the actual felid and those felid-like Barbourofelid and Nimravid.
06-14-2017, 08:33 PM
( This post was last modified: 06-14-2017, 08:47 PM by epaiva
Edit Reason: corrected the format
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 *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Pachycrocuta brevirostris: Skeleton and reconstructed life appearance of the giant hyena Originally described from a skull found in Seinzelles, France, this hyaenid is known from fragmentary remains from several European sites, but the best sample by far actually comes from the middle Pleistocene site of Zhoukoudian, China. The Chinese sample shows that the body proportions of Pachycrocuta especially resembled those of the spotted hyena among modern members of the family, but the extinct species was even more robust. Otherwise, Pachycrocuta displayed all the traits that characterize modern hyenas: a large head, a long and well muscled neck, forelimbs considerable longer than the hind limbs, and the shortened back. All these features are part of the adaptation for carrying large pieces of carcasses and show that Pachycrocuta was as adept at scavenging as its extant relatives are. Reconstructed shoulder height: 1 m.  *This image is copyright of its original author Skull and reconstructed head of the giant percrocutid Dinocrocuta gigantea Members of the genus Dinocrocuta are known from fragmentary remains in Europe but from the late Miocene in China complete skulls have been found, showing that although these percrocutids had paralleled true hyaenids to a remarkable degree their skull morphology was rather unique. The cranium was very robust, with powerful zygomatic arches and strongly domed forehead, and the teeth, especially the premolars, were proportionally enormous. Total length of skull 40 cm.
https://twilightbeasts.wordpress.com/201...ave-hyena/
Their deathly hypnotic stare sends shivers down the spine. The long, strong neck gives these amazing creatures additional cause to be feared. Hyenas are infamous for their ferocious ways of hunting in packs (known as cackles, or clans), scavenging carcases and loudly, excitedly, yelping as they rip their food to pieces. There are four living species of hyenas; the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), the striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena), the brown hyena (Hyaena brunnea) and the lesser know little aardwolf (Proteles cristatus). The striped hyena is the only species, in present time, to live outside of Africa; as well as north and east Africa, it also lives in the Middle East and Asia. In the Earth’s recent past, another species of hyena was running around Europe; cackling across the plains. Hyenas are one of the keystone species excavated in the first Pleistocene fossil discoveries. In the early 1800s in England, fossils in caves were being dug up by limestone quarrymen. At first thought to be old farm animals they were used for adding to road rubble, but they soon attracted the attention of naturalists, and one man in particular became obsessed with them. The somewhat eccentric William Buckland, a geologist and theologian in Oxford, was made aware of one of these early sites at Kirkdale Caves in Yorkshire. Bone of hippopotamus, elephants, bison and other creatures were all identified. A strong believer in the literal truth of the Bible, Buckland first thought that the remains had been washed in by Noah’s flood. The more he looked, the more he realised that the giant beasts could not have been washed through the small opening of the cave. How else could they have got there? Abundant fossils of another creature gave Buckland the answer. Fossils of hyenas, young and old, along with gnawed bones of animals and fossilised hyena poo (called coprolites) provided evidence of hyenas actually living in the cave. Clans of hyenas were denning in the caves, dragging in bodies of the animals which lived nearby. Far from confirming the Biblical account, Buckland had discovered a time when these exotic creatures were living in Britain (he attributed this to an ‘antediluvial’ time, or a time before the great flood). (Incidentally, William Buckland really was an eccentric character. He had a rather unusual penchant for wanting to eat every animal on the planet. He did actually manage to eat his way through quite a lot of different critters, finding blue bottles and moles rather untasty. Buckland was going to try eating a hyena, but he became too attached to it and so kept him as a pet, and named him Billy.) By examining hyena fossils and looking very closely at other fossils (for gnaw marks), Buckland had set a new standard for examining cave sites. The spotted hyena ([i]C. crocuta) has been incredibly successful throughout most of Europe and Asia for almost a million years. Commonly known as the European Spotted Hyena, or the Cave Hyena, this hyena has historically been named as a separate species (C. spelaea) or sub-species (C. crocuta spelaea). Recent genetic work has demonstrated the European Spotted Hyena has had continual gene flow through Africa and is one species, C. crocuta. The first evidence of C. crocuta in Western Europe is found in Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain, dating to 800,000 years ago. They rapidly spread throughout Europe and are one of the main fossils recovered from many cave sites. Beautifully preserved jaws, and skeletal remains, have been found in caves in Somerset, Devon and Yorkshire. As Buckland demonstrated for the first time with the fossils at Kirkdale in Yorkshire, many of the caves sites across Europe have young and old specimens indicating that they were used as hyena dens. These hairy terrors were not restricted to warm environments during the ever changing Pleistocene. Their remains have been found throughout the mid-late Pleistocene of Britain, including times when it was so warm hippopotamus swam in the Thames, and later, cooler, times when mammoths roamed Derbyshire. Although they are absent in Britain during a few extremely frigid periods, these were efficient, successful predators. They suddenly became extinct in Britain around 30,000 years ago, and soon after in the rest of western Europe. It is likely that changing climate and changing vegetation had an effect on populations. Around 30,000 years ago the climate was colder and the prey species were becoming isolated in refugia. With the colder climate and less herbivores, these great beasts would have had more competition from wolves and even lions. They were lost from Britain and Europe. Fortunately, this Twilight Beast survives today. Watching one (on the television), you can imagine clans of these incredible animals yelping and cackling all over England. Written by Jan Freedman (@janfreedman) [/i]
https://twilightbeasts.wordpress.com/201...aurus-rex/
The hyena that was overshadowed by a Tyrannosaurus rex Posted on August 28, 2014 One of the wonderful things about being part of Twilight Beasts is that we are discovering new beasts all the time. Many beasts are familiar, like mammoths and sabretooth cats. Others not so much, like the unbelievably cute Great Jerboa, or the strange pig-like peccaries. (Astonishing as it may sound, even woolly rhinoceros are not that well known to some: I have taken woolly rhinoceros bones out for a big museum event, and having spoken to over 500 people, I counted 10 who knew what a woolly rhino was.) Reading one of our recent guest posts, I came across a beast I didn’t recognise and when I looked into it, I got a little excited! Elegantly written, the post tells us about the pretty nippy pronghorn antelope which only just snuck through the end of the Pleistocene. One of the things that helped it slip through while many others fell, was their speed. These were fast animals, reaching speeds of up to 80km per hour (around 50 miles per hour). Some suggest that speedy predators may have given this antelope a good reason for evolving to be zippier than most. Possibly. There were a few fast predators around, including the American cheetah, and before the dawn of the Pleistocene, a few sabre-tooth cats. One species of carnivore in particular jumped out at me. A species that I didn’t think would be there. I first heard of Barnum Brown fairly recently on the great, award winning, educational children’s programme Dino Dan. Barnum Brown was a palaeontologist in the late 1800s and early 1900s. He was famous for his discovery of the first Tyrannosaurus rex remains in 1902, which were found in the Hell Creek Formation, Montana. A couple of years later Brown collected some fossil mammal remains from a fissure which miners discovered at Val Verde Copper Mine in Arizona in 1901. He labelled the bones and packed them off to the United States National Museum (which would become the Smithsonian Institution). Brown was due to re-examine these fossil, and if the infamous T. rex hadn’t taken the public by storm, he may have had the chance. It took twenty years before anyone pried open the wooden crate full of fossils. It was the curator, Oliver Perry Hay who peered in unleashing one fossil that would stir up debates for decades to follow. The fossils found in the mine were of Pleistocene animals and some were familiar, like pronghorn antelopes and squirrels. One jaw had the label ‘cat’ with it. Comparing the jaw with other cat species, and other carnivores, Hay concluded that it belonged to an extinct hyena. He named it Chasmaporthetes ossifragus which translates to ‘he who saw the canyon’. This was a huge discovery. A species of hyena living in America?! Before then hyenas had been found in other parts of the world, but not in America. (It has always been fascinating that the more recent cave hyena never followed mammoths or reindeer into America.) This was an exciting fossil. The Genus Chasmaporthetes evolved some time towards the end of the Miocene around 7 million years ago. It is unsure if this group evolved in Africa, Europe or Asia. 9 different species belonging to this Genus have been discovered so far, including a relatively new one named in 2013 which lived around 4million years ago on the Tibetan Plateau. It was a very successful group of hyenas. In fact species have been found across Africa, in Europe, China and North America, giving it a very large geographical distribution. Chasmaporthetes ossifragus was the only species of hyena (so far as we know) to have stepped its paws over the Bering Land Bridge into North America. This ‘bridge’ linked the Eastern tip of Siberia to the Western tip of Alaska when sea levels were lower. And once here, around 5million years ago, this hyena moved south. Fossils have been discovered in Arizona, Texas, Florida, and Mexico. Remains, however, are nowhere near as abundant as the European cave hyena where one site may yield dozens of beautifully preserved specimens. The North American specimens are sparse, and fragmentary. This American hyena is also known as the American hunting hyena, or the running hyena. Not the most elegant of common names, and also a little misleading: although commonly perceived as scavenging ugly beasts, the living species of hyenas today do hunt, and they also run (and they are beautiful animals too). But there is method in the madness. Although fairly few fossils have been found, fossil bones from other species in this Genus show these hyenas were more closely related to the dog-like hyenas (like the extant, but fairly unknown aardwolf) rather than the bigger, robust species. The bodyform appears to have been long, somewhat slender, similar to that of a cheetah. The teeth were sharp, great for slicing flesh, but not a thick as it’s bone crunching cousins. A fast, fierce hyena, Chasmaporthetes ossifragus was a top predator on the North American grasslands. Other fossils associated with the American hyena include horses, camels, deer, giant marmots and pronghorns: plenty of prey for an active predator. The North American savannah was full of predators, with other ferocious beasts looming such as the Pliocene scimitar toothed cat (Homotherium) and the dirk toothed cat (Megantereon). There was also the America cheetah, and the hugely robust canid Borophangus diversidens which, ironically, superficially resembled the bigger hyenas from Africa in body shape, and are known as the bone crushing dogs. It was a competitive world for animals at the beginning of the Pleistocene. Most of the competition vanished as the Pleistocene moved into full swing. There were no bone crushing dogs around, or scimitar tooth cats. The American hyena was doing quite well. Hunting other animals, possibly including pronghorns, it was at the top of the food chain. Current evidence points to its extinction in North America around 780,000 years ago based on the youngest fossil evidence so far found. It appears the erratic climate that was the signature of the ever changing Pleistocene Epoch, was to blame for their extinction: changing climates and temperatures replaced the open grasslands to more covered forests. Hyenas are a misunderstood species that are portrayed as rather ugly, scavenging beasts. Hyenas are one of my favourite Twilight Beast because they are awesome. They had an enormous diverse range of different species living in the past, ranging all across the northern hemisphere. Not far from where I work, around 35,000 years ago, hyenas were running around, dragging back carcasses to their caves. These amazing animals were living in Britain until pretty recently. What’s even more incredible is that one of their cousins was very happily living in North America. Written by Jan Freedman (@JanFreedman) 
Modern relative... Aardwolf
 *This image is copyright of its original author Feeding on insects (termites or roaches technically)... 
Dinocrocuta marauding and coming dangerously close to a titanothere (I presume) crawled into a muddy river bed.
Cave Hyena
Credit to @prehistoric creatures  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
Dinocrocuta gigantea
Credit to extintanimalsfacts  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
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