Dogs have always played an important role in human history. In ancient times, they were the guardians of the nursing homes of the peasant households; they were the right-hand men of the hunters; and in modern times, they were companions in the lives of many people and played an important role in many fields. Looking at the entire history of biological development, canines represented by dogs also have a glorious history. On the occasion of the Year of the Dog, the author who loves ancient creatures will take you to appreciate the style of the prehistoric relatives of the Wangs.
Old Ancestor "Dusk Dog"
The Dusk Dog lived in North America from the Late Eocene to the Late Oligocene and is the earliest known canine of the age of life. The Dusk Dog is 40 cm long, slender and slender, about the size of a badger, with a long tail and relatively short and thick limbs, and a mouth slightly shorter than that of modern dogs.
From the analysis of excavated fossils, the dusk dog has a tooth and ear structure similar to that of modern canines, and the sense of smell is also very developed, which helps them to find small herbivores in time, as well as large beasts such as odoropods and hyenas, which make chase or dodge behaviors at the first time, and the long tail can also maintain body balance when running fast.
As a representative of the early canine family, the dusk dog bred for more than 10 million years in the Oligocene (about 33.9 million to 23.03 million years ago), evolving several species of canines of different sizes. According to the characteristics of these canines, paleontologists divide them into three categories: the subfamily of ancient dogs, the subfamily of dyhounds, and the subfamily of canines. The dusk dog is located in the ancient dog subfamily, and the extant canines are all from the canine subfamily.
In the late Oligocene, as the grassland area expanded, the dusk dog lost the forest on which it depended and gradually went extinct.
Dusk Dog Restoration (www.xinwenge.net)
"Cattooth dog" with teeth like cats
Cattooth dogs weigh 20-40 kg, shoulder height 75 cm, except for the neck and limbs are shorter, the proportion of the rest of the body is similar to that of gray wolves, living in the Miocene period 16 million to 9 million years ago, in the taxonomy belongs to the canine canine subfamily, with a strong jaw and powerful teeth, can bite the bones of animals.
Cattooth Skull (Wikipedia)
Compared to other canines, cattooth dogs have a stronger ability to cut teeth, somewhat similar to the teeth of felines, which is why they got their name.
Cattooth dogs are about the same size as extant African wild dogs, and considering that African wild dogs as small carnivores hunt en masse, paleontologists speculate that the same canines, and the small cattooth dogs are likely to be hunted in groups.
Cattooth dogs round up three-toed horses (see watermark)
The "new Wolf" with retractable claws
The existing canines cannot retract their paws, but the neo-Lu wolf that lived in North America 25 million to 12 million years ago is a different species, and their claws can be retracted like most cats.
The new Wolf is 1 meter long, similar in size to a wolf, and has a body shape closer to that of a bush wolf, but with a shorter head and a thicker tail. Compared with most canines, the new wolf is not strong in long-distance running, they rely on ambush to catch prey, the main hunting objects are small and medium-sized herbivores such as three-toed horses.
Restoration of the New Lu Wolf (Himalayas)
The largest canine family - Headney Upper Dog
Headney upper dog shoulder height 1.2 meters, body length 1.5 meters, weight 91-136 kg, long has a huge head and strong jaw, the shape of the entire skull looks more like a lion, is currently known to be the largest canine, living in 8 million to 5.3 million years ago in the late Miocene North America, is the last species to evolve in the subfamily of dogs.
Taxonomically , the Hedney Upper Dog belongs to the genus Upper Dog of the subfamily Dread canine , and is also the model species of the entire genus Upper Dog ( the earliest of a genus ) , discovered and named by the American paleontologist Reddy in 1858.
Although the weight is already the highest among canines, the Headney upper dog has no advantage over other carnivores of the same region of the same era, such as the Babo saber-toothed tiger with a body length of 3.5 meters and canine teeth of more than 20 centimeters. In order to compete with predators that are larger and stronger than themselves, Heidney usually lives in groups, hunting large prey such as ancient camels and far-horned rhinos.
Restoration of The Hideney on the Dog (see watermark)
Glacier Hunter - Dire Wolf
The existing canines, strictly speaking, belong to the subfamily canines, living in the dire wolf 400,000-10,000 years ago, with an average shoulder height of 1 meter, a body length of 1.5-2 meters, and a weight of 50 kilograms, which is the largest subfamily of canines.
Compared with the existing close relatives of the gray wolf, the dire wolf has broad shoulders, a larger head, and a short and powerful limbs and torso, the whole body looks exceptionally strong, and the teeth bite force is better.
With these differences in physical structure, the choice of prey for dire wolves is naturally different from that of gray wolves. Gray wolves have slender limbs, good endurance, can hunt long distances to those good running herbivores, relatively small size also allows them to have a wider range of recipes (a little bite to eat enough), large bison, small to voles are on the menu; in contrast, the heavy body and short and thick limbs of the wolf, so that their speed and endurance are very weak, can not chase prey for a long time, can only short distances to sneak those slow movements, as well as old and weak large prey, and can not rely on small prey to fill the stomach, There are many fewer types of prey to choose from than gray wolves.
At the end of the Pleistocene, climate change led to a decline in large herbivores, coupled with the invasion of grasslands by humans, the survival of dire wolves was challenged as never before, and eventually became extinct.
Dinosaur Recovery (Wikipedia)
From dusk dogs to Hedney dogs, from dire wolves to gray wolves, to all kinds of canines around humans, the entire canine family has gone through nearly 40 million years of evolution, becoming a mighty and cute creature like cats, active in the natural wilderness and human society.
This article is the tadpole stave original, the copyright belongs to the tadpole stave, any media, website or individual unauthorized reproduction, otherwise the relevant legal responsibilities will be pursued. If you need to reprint, please visit the http://rightknights.com/pub/pub_author?greatAuthor=CIHHF&type=0 obtain legal authorization.