Protictitherium
Sign in to saveProtictitherium (gr. first striking beast) is an extinct genus of hyena that lived across Europe and Asia during the Middle and Late Miocene, it is often considered to be the first hyena since it contains some of the oldest fossils of the family. They were especially prolific in Turkey, where every species has been registered.
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Encyclopedic overview
6 sectionsContents
- Description
- Species
- ''Protictitherium crassum''
- ''Protictitherium cingulatum''
- ''Protictitherium intermedium''
- References
Protictitherium (gr. first striking beast) is an extinct genus of hyena that lived across Europe and Asia during the Middle and Late Miocene, it is often considered to be the first hyena since it contains some of the oldest fossils of the family. They were especially prolific in Turkey, where every species has been registered.
== Description == Protictitherium was akin to civets both in size, being around 50 cm (19 inches) tall at their shoulder; and in weight, with calculations suggesting something around 4–8 kg (8-18 lb), with differences between species. It has been suggested that Protictitherium was a partly arboreal predator, due to their semi-retractable claws, perhaps to avoid larger predators . While they possessed somewhat large molars and premolars, their bite wasn't remarkably strong.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Protictitherium” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.