Explore this animal in Size of Extinct Animals ↗
470 / Cenozoic
Dinocrocuta
Dinocrocuta gigantea
Massive jaws and rounded carnassials crushed bone, though it was not a modern hyena.
View original image · 1600 × 1067- Time range
- About 9–5 million years ago
- Final stage
- End of the Miocene
- Geographic range
- Open woodland and grassland · Eurasia
01 / DEFINITION & ECOLOGY
What was Dinocrocuta?
Dinocrocuta (Dinocrocuta gigantea) was an extinct organism known from About 9–5 million years ago, with a range in Open woodland and grassland · Eurasia.
Life and ecology
It ambushed prey or scavenged large mammals and exploited marrow.
02 / DISAPPEARANCE
Why did Dinocrocuta disappear?
Late Miocene climate change and carnivore turnover are possible context, but they do not establish a specific cause.
03 / EVIDENCE
How do scientists know about Dinocrocuta?
Skulls, teeth, skeletons and bitten prey preserve bone-cracking ecology.
04 / SOURCES & FURTHER READING
Check the source record
Use the scientific name to compare taxonomy, occurrence records and the fossil record. Database coverage and classifications may differ.
05 / REVISION HISTORY
How has this record changed?
- Rewrote an extinction cause that presented environmental or faunal turnover as established; it is now given as context the record does not prove.
- Verified authoritative entity sources and added three responsive reconstruction sizes.
- Initial bilingual species record published.
06 / CORRECTIONS & ADDITIONS