james_davis_nicoll: (Default)
james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2009-09-21 11:36 am

A side-effect of a dodgy memory

I keep re-discovering entelodonts AKA "Hell Pigs", a pig-like apex predator that went extinct about 16 million years ago.

[identity profile] james-nicoll.livejournal.com 2009-09-21 03:50 pm (UTC)(link)
It seems to me cetaceans had an alarming land-dwelling predator in their lineage but darned if I can find it.

[identity profile] dhole.livejournal.com 2009-09-21 05:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Andrewsarchus has teeth similar to those of early whales, IIRC, though I'm not at all sure where it fits in the family tree.

(Anonymous) 2009-09-22 12:36 am (UTC)(link)
Are you thinking of ambulocetus?

[Pix & stuff, here: http://olduvaigeorge.com/2006/12/01/march-of-the-hippoartiowhales/ ]

Or maybe this critter: http://www.hmnh.org/archives/2009/02/04/maiacetus-innus/ ?

But if you go back far enough, they aren't very alarming at all:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7150627.stm

FWIIW,

TSM_in_TethysToronto