Sarkastodon
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| ?Sarkastodon Conservation status: Fossil |
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Sarkastodon was a giant meat-eating mammal thought to have gone extinct in the Eocene, about 38 million years ago. They are members of the extinct order of creodonts (Latin for "flesh-ripping teeth"). Looking like modern bears, except larger than any bear that ever lived, Sarkastodon was a carnivore that hunted large animals. It is expected that Sarkastodon, with its massive size, would be able to kill a modern elephant. Fossils of these great beasts have been found in Mongolia.
Sarkastodon stood almost 7 feet tall at the shoulder when on all fours, and had a large, raccoon-like tail. It was about 10-11 feet long and had a very stocky torso. While on its hind legs, it could have touched an object 19 feet off the ground with its front claws. It would have weighed in at well over a ton, about as heavy as a Clydesdale horse. It is believed to have evolved to such a huge size to cope with massive prey, as Central Asia during the Eocene was home to huge mammals, such as rhinoceroses, brontotheres and chalicotheres. The fossilized teeth of Sarkastodon show that it ate a variety of foods, and probably led a lifestyle in some ways like that of modern brown bears. Creodonts, however, had teeth arranged differently from Carnivora which somewhat restricted their diet.
Sarkastodon, like the other creodonts, eventually was replaced by Carnivora i.e. cats, dogs, bears, weasels, and related forms. The process took tens of millions of years, and the exact reasons for the replacement are not fully known.
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[edit] External links
- Artistic reconstruction of Sarkastodon The artist shows Sarkastodon in the background, waiting for Andrewsarchus to finish feeding. The dead Brontothere shown would have been about the size of a small modern elephant. A primate can be seen on a tree branch, and an early member of Carnivora, which eventually became the dominant land predators, is seen in the foreground.
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