Hesperocyon gregarius, the first true dogsteemCreated with Sketch.

in #fossils6 years ago (edited)

Hesperocyon gregarious was a species of dog that lived during the Eocene and Oligocene epochs. It first appeared roughly 42 million years ago. Hesperocyon is an important animal, in that, it is the first true dog that is known to science. So all those little doggie buddies that some of us have can trace their roots back to this animal

Here is a picture of a hesperocyon skull. The whitish area is what was exposed when found and bleached by the sun. This skull would be from an adult animal and should give you a good idea of the size of these first true dogs

hespercyon1.jpg

Here is the other side of the skull. There are a few tortoises in the back ground.

hespercyon.jpg

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Wow! It is certainly small. It probably was a good food source for some of the bigger creatures, right? !Tip

It was one of the smallest meat eaters of the time. The saber cats and hell pigs for sure would have snacked on them if they could. Most likely, these little guys were pack animals, similar to wild dogs in Africa or wolves. This would have helped them a bit when it came to not becoming someone else's lunch. Thanks for the Tip!