Sarkastodon

Sarkastodon (Sarkastodon Granger, 1938)

Order: †Creodonta

Family: †Oxyaenidae

Dimensions: length - 2,6 m, height - 125 сm, weight - 200 - 400 kg

Temporal range: lived during the upper Eocene, approximately 35 million years ago.(Mongolia)

Sarkastodon is an extinct genus within the family Oxyaenidae that lived during the upper Eocene, approximately 35 million years ago. It was a large, carnivorous animal that lived in what is today Mongolia. It is estimated to have been about 400 kilograms in weight, somewhat bigger than any living bear in average body size and near the maximum possible size for terrestrial carnivorous mammals. It is seen today in animals such as the Kodiak bear, which reaches that size only in captivity. Sarkastodon is assumed to have had a bear-like appearance, though only skulls and jawbones are known. Sarkastodon, like creodonts in general, was probably a hypercarnivore that preyed on large mammals in its range during the Late Eocene, such as brontotheres, chalicotheres, and rhinoceroses.