Agriotherium

Taxobox
name = "Agriotherium"
fossil_range = Late Miocene to Pleistocene
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Carnivora
familia = †Hemicyonidae
genus = †"Agriotherium"
genus_authority = Wagner, 1837
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =
* †"A. africanum"
* †"A. inexpectans"
* †"A. schneideri"
* †"A. sivalensis"

"Agriotherium" is an extinct genus of bear-like hemicyonid carnivore, living from around 9 million to about 2 million years ago. Although hemicyonids such as "Agriotherium" resembled bears and are related to bears, they are from a different family of ursoid carnivorans.

It was about 3 m (10 ft) long and 1000 kg, making it larger than any living bear. Along with the short-faced bear, Arctodus simus, Agriotherium was among the largest members of the Carnivora ever to have existed. It was primitive in many ways, lacking some characteristics typically found in today's carnivores. "Agriotherium" ranged widely; fossils of four or more species have been found in South Africa, Europe, India, China and North America. Like living bears, it was probably omnivorous. Even though at 1 ton this animal could have taken down large ungulates such as horses, bovines, camelids, and even rhinoceroses, it was probably an opportunist that could have eaten berries, roots, fish, nuts, and carrion as well.

References

Further reading

*Dalquest, Walter W. (November 1986) Lower Jaw and Dentition of the Hemphillian Bear, "Agriotherium" (Ursidae), with the Description of a New Species. "Journal of Mammalogy." Vol. 67, No. 4. pp. 623-631
*Miller, Wade E.; Oscar Carranza-Castaneda. (May 1996) "Agriotherium schneideri" from the Hemphillian of Central Mexico. "Journal of Mammalogy." Vol. 77, No. 2. pp. 568-577.
*Petter, G. and Thomas, H. (1986) Les Agriotheriinae (Mammalia, Carnivora)néogènes de l’Ancien Monde presence du genre Indarctos dans la faune de Menacer (ex−Marceau), Algérie. "Geobios." Volume 19, pp. 573–586.
*Sorkin, B. Ecomorphology of the giant short-faced bears "Agriotherium" and "Arctodus". (March 2006) "Historical Biology: A Journal of Paleobiology." Volume 18, Number 1. pp. 1-20.

External links

* [http://www.science-art.com/image.asp?id=846&m=0 Illustration at ScienceArt]