Simocyon

Simocyon ("short-snouted dog") is a genus of extinct carnivoran mammal in the family Ailuridae. Simocyon, which was about the size of a mountain lion, lived in the late Miocene and early Pliocene epochs, and has been found in Europe, Asia, and rarely, North America and Africa.

Classification

File:Simocyon batalleri head.jpg

Reconstructed skull and head

The relationship of Simocyon to other carnivores has been controversial, but studies of the structure of its ear, teeth, and ankle now indicate that its closest living relative is the red panda, Ailurus, although it is different enough to be classified in a separate subfamily (Simocyoninae) along with related genera Alopecocyon and Actiocyon.

Palaeoecology

While the red panda is primarily herbivorous, the teeth and skull of Simocyon indicate that it was carnivorous, and it may have engaged in some bone-crushing, like living hyenas. The skeleton of Simocyon indicates that, like the red panda, it could climb trees, although it probably also spent considerable time on the ground. Simocyon and Ailurus both have a radial sesamoid, an unusual bone in the wrist that acts as a false thumb. Its competitors during its time period were ailuropodine and tremarctine bears, nimravid false cats, and early canids and felids.