The presence of huge dog-bears, having lived several million years ago, detected in France
Another great discovery made by paleontologists in the south of France. According to Sciencepost , which relays a study published in the journal " Peer J ", a team has unearthed a fossilized mandible in the town of Sallespisse (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) which would belong to the Amphicyonidae family (or Amphicyonidae), more commonly known as dog-bear. They are an extinct family of carnivorous mammals that lived in the Middle Eocene. This period is the second of the Paleogene and also the second of the Cenozoic era.
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A single premolar
According to our colleagues, dog-bears lived 36 million years ago, before potentially dying out 7.5 million years ago. One of the main characteristics of animals belonging to this species is that they walked on their toes. They also had the distinction of having an exclusively carnivorous diet while their closest relatives, the canids, were omnivores. While some could weigh only nine kilos, fossil records have shown that the largest could weigh up to 300 kg. Probably hypercarnivores.
On the lower jaw discovered by paleontologists, there was only a single premolar. However, according to Sciencepost, this tooth is essential for understanding the species and genera of these times. But above all, the researchers, including the paleontologist Bastien Mennecart (from the Basel Natural History Museum), revealed that the morphology of this tooth was unknown. They therefore speak of a "new animal" and baptized it "Tartarocyon cazanavei". It has been established that it weighed around 200 kg and that it lived between 12.8 and 12 million years ago.
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Climatic events
But the discovery is important on two counts. She says more about the climatic changes of the time. During the Middle Miocene, temperatures rose (+5°C) during the first part, before falling again thereafter. However, these events have led to environmental changes with "wildlife exchanges". With the floods in France at the time, and the uplift of the Pyrenees chain, few traces of terrestrial vertebrates remain. Such a discovery makes it possible to have another look at the period, and perhaps to find new answers.
https://www.geo.fr/environnement/la-presence-denormes-chiens-ours-vivant-il-y-a-plusieurs-millions-dannees-decelee-en-france-210524?fbclid=IwAR3GxSok1tqmB27Opgn81Qt7GLiyNCseJBH5aBKV0Ob8kJbFKyOIGjDK7KY