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Hesperocyon

Hesperocyon
Meet one of the world's oldest canines- Hespercyon. This creature, which kind of looks more like a weasel than a dog, lived in North America way back around 40 million years ago!

Though it had weak legs and a slender body, there are still a couple of indicators that let us know that Hesperocyon was an early member of the dog family. For one, they had ear bones that correspond with those in Canines. They also had teeth that were positioned in a dog-like way.

Hesperocyon died out around 34 million years ago, and was succeeded by dozens of other Hesperocyoninae species. They are not, however, ancestors to modern dogs. Within the Canidae family there rose three different subfamilies, the aforementioned Hesperocyoninae, the also Borophaginae, and Caninae. Only members of the Caninae subfamily are still around.
Status : Extinct for 34 million years
Location : North America
Size : Body Length around 3ft (.9m)
Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Mammalia -- Order : Carnivora
Family : Canidae -- Subfamily : †Hesperocyoninae -- Genus : †Hesperocyon
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Comments

  1. ErinSeptember 22, 2012 at 3:12 PM

    Those are so cool! Sleek like a fox, bite like a dog!

    ReplyDelete

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