Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Department of
Date of this Version
1983
Citation
Science, New Series, Vol. 221, NO. 4608, pp. 364-366
Abstract
Partial skeletons off our species of extinct carnivores have been found in their dens excavated in the floodplain of an early Miocene ephemeral braided stream at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Nebraska. Bear dogs (Carnivora: Amphicyonidae) were the principal occupants; their den dimensions and body size are similar to those of living wolves and hyenas. Discovery of this predator community extends the record of denning behavior of large mammalian carnivores to the early Miocene, 20 million years ago.