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Percrocuta

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Percrocuta is an extinct genus of percrocutid hyena. It lived in Eurasia and Africa, during the Miocene epoch.

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Encyclopedic overview

6 sections
Contents
  • Description
  • Classification
  • Fossil evidence
  • Palaeobiology
  • Palaeoecology
  • References

Percrocuta is an extinct genus of percrocutid hyena. It lived in Eurasia and Africa, during the Miocene epoch.

==Description == With a maximum length of 1.50 m (5 ft), Percrocuta was much bigger than its modern relatives. Like the spotted hyena, it had a robust skull and powerful jaws. Similar to modern hyaenids, its hind legs were shorter than the front legs, resulting in a characteristic sloping back. However, not all species were larger than modern hyenas. P. xixiaensis is described to being close to size of the striped hyena. The zygomatic arch of this species was slender a hyena its size suggesting the cranium isn’t as strongly built was other bone crushing hyenas such as Dinocrocuta, Pachycrocuta, striped hyena, Adcrocuta, and Crocuta.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Percrocuta” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.