Knowra Mesonychidae Mesonychidae Mesonychidae is an extinct family of hoofed, meat-eating mammals that lived from the Paleocene to the early Oligocene, chiefly in Asia and North America. Its members included some of the largest terrestrial carnivorous mammals of their time.
Mammalia : Mammals are vertebrates distinguished by traits including hair and milk-producing mammary glands. Mesonychids were mammals with the specialized teeth and limbs of terrestrial predators.
Mesonychid dentition : Mesonychid dentition includes distinctive triangular cheek teeth and robust teeth suited to processing animal tissues. The teeth supplied the family's most diagnostic anatomical evidence and inspired its name.
Paleocene : The Paleocene is the epoch following the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction, lasting about 66 to 56 million years ago. Mesonychids appeared during this epoch as mammals diversified after the mass extinction.
Andrewsarchus : Andrewsarchus is an extinct Eocene mammal known chiefly from a large skull found in Mongolia. It has often been associated with mesonychids, though its exact evolutionary position remains disputed.
Ungulate : An ungulate is a hoofed mammal or a member of a lineage traditionally grouped with hoofed mammals. Mesonychids had hoofed feet despite being meat-eaters, an unusual combination among ungulates.
Carnivorous mammal : A carnivorous mammal obtains much of its food by eating other animals. Mesonychids represent an extinct hoofed branch of mammalian meat-eaters.
Eocene : The Eocene is an epoch lasting about 56 to 33.9 million years ago, marked by warm climates and diverse mammals. Mesonychids were especially diverse during the Eocene, when several lineages occupied Asia and North America.
Hyaenodont : Hyaenodonts are an extinct order of predatory mammals unrelated to modern hyenas. They were another major group of early Cenozoic mammalian predators, but were not hoofed mesonychids.
Carnivora : Carnivora is the mammalian order containing cats, dogs, bears, seals, and their relatives. Mesonychids were predators outside Carnivora, showing that meat-eating mammals evolved in other lineages.
Hypercarnivory : Hypercarnivory is a diet in which animal tissue makes up most of an animal's food. Some mesonychids had teeth and jaws consistent with strong specialization for consuming animal matter.
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