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Science 22 July 1983:
Vol. 221. no. 4608, pp. 364 - 366
DOI: 10.1126/science.221.4608.364
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Articles

Miocene Burrows of Extinct Bear Dogs: Indication of Early Denning Behavior of Large Mammalian Carnivores

ROBERT M. HUNT JR. 1, XUE XIANG-XU 2, and JOSHUA KAUFMAN 3

1 Department of Geology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln 68588
2 Department of Geology, Northwestern University, Xian, Shaanxi, China
3 Nebraska State Museum, Lincoln 68588

Partial skeletons of four species of extinct carnivores have been found in their dens excavated in the floodplain of an early Miocene ephemeral braided stream at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Nebraska. Bear dogs (Carnivora: Amphicyonidae) were the principal occupants; their den dimensions and body size are similar to those of living wolves and hyenas. Discovery of this predator community extends the record of denning behavior of large mammalian carnivores to the early Miocene, 20 million years ago.

Submitted on October 7, 1982
Revised on December 20, 1982


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
FAUNAL AGGREGATION IN THE EARLY TRIASSIC KAROO BASIN: EARLIEST EVIDENCE OF SHELTER-SHARING BEHAVIOR AMONG TETRAPODS?.
F. ABDALA, J. C. CISNEROS, and R. M.H. SMITH (2006)
Palaios 21, 507-512
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Vertebrate Burrow Complexes from the Early Triassic Cynognathus Zone (Driekoppen Formation, Beaufort Group) of the Karoo Basin, South Africa.
(2001)
Palaios 16, 148-160


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