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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/megaloceros.png]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:''Megaloceros'' sculptures at Crystal Palace Park, London.]]
3
4The most popular kinds of extinct mammals described in UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs ''do not match'' the huge variety of them in RealLife. Compared with dinosaurs and the other Mesozoic reptiles, prehistoric mammals have traditionally-been less-common in Fictionland.
5
6But if there [[OvershadowedByAwesome weren't dinos]], extinct mammals as a whole would be much, ''much'' more popular than they are today: a lot of them were in RealLife as large and powerful as many stock dinosaurs. Not to mention the fact a consistent part of them were the ancestors of modern hairy, milk-producing vertebrates. In short, they would be ''very'' interesting guys to show in fiction. And yet most of them still remain docu-related animals - if they're lucky enough. The primary exception seems to be [[MammothsMeanIceAge mammoths and other ice age mammals]], which are often used in pop-culture as a shorthand for the Pleistocene just as dinosaurs are for the Mesozoic.
7
8Programs from the 2000s like ''Series/WalkingWithBeasts'' and the ''WesternAnimation/IceAge'' film series partially averted the trope; not only the well-known case of ''WesternAnimation/IceAgeDawnOfTheDinosaurs''. Though it's little-known, ''Walking With'' was initially intended to show ''prehistoric mammals'', but producers received money "only for a show about dinosaurs" - only after the dinosaurs' success they could start with ''Beasts'', changed to a simple sequel at that point.
9
10Here is a '''very''' partial list of [[https://youtu.be/AtVGwHPzyNc extinct mammals]], some of them are compared in size with other extinct creatures [[https://youtu.be/60nG4ZZl_tw here]]. If you want to see more about the truly-stock or the rare-stock ones, see UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs.
11
12[[foldercontrol]]
13
14----
15
16[[folder:The Earliest Kinds]]
17
18----
19
20'''A Bunch of Mammalreptiles'''
21
22* The earliest mammals were very different compared to the most common modern forms (placentals and marsupials), with many traits reminiscent of the cynodont [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles therapsids]]. Today, the only mammals that preserve these ancestral traits are the Monotremes (echidna & platypus) with their horny bills with electric sensors, sprawling gait, and their peculiar skeletal anatomy including the so-called "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epipubic_bone epipubic bones]]" (in the hips). The most ancient true mammals generally had also sprawling gaits, some of which with odd configurations such as more erect forelimbs. Many were venomous, [[https://www.app.pan.pl/article/item/app51-001.html with venom spurs similar to those of modern platypi being the norm]]. Nearly all were constrained by the epipubic bones or epipubics: great at stiffening your torso, [[GoneHorriblyRight so much so]] that you can't undergo long term pregnancy and are forced to give birth to undeveloped young: just like in modern marsupials, which also have reduced epipubics named "marsupial bones" because they are useful in females to sustain the ventral pouch. Alternatively, the mammals with epipubics laid eggs as in modern monotremes, [[https://news.umich.edu/new-study-challenges-old-views-on-whats-primitive-in-mammalian-reproduction/ and recent studies on multituberculates prove that they actually gestated like placentals so the presence of epipubics might not mean much at all]]. We placentals are the only mammals without epipubic bones, arguably to give room to the enlarged womb during pregnancy and birth in females.
23
24----
25
26'''Dinosaur Companions'''
27
28* Stem-mammals diversified into a variety of groups alongside the dinosaurs. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Docodonta Docodonts]] were a rare but successful lineage that spawned forms like the aquatic ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castorocauda Castorocauda]]'', the arboreal ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agilodocodon Agiloconodon]]'' and the digging, mole-like ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Docofossor Docofossor]]''. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eutriconodonta Eutriconodonts]] were a lineage of specialized carnivores that spawned into [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repenomamus baby-dinosaur predators]] and even [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volaticotherium flying squirrel-like gliders]]. [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Multituberculates]] (already mentioned in the non-dino-reptiles page) were a lineage of superficially rodent-like animals with a unique chewing mechanism that quickly rose to dominance across the globe: they were more common in some areas than even dinosaur fossils. Most of these Mesozoic mammals disappeared by the mid-Cretaceous, probably [[http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/280/1771/20132110 due to the spread of flowering plants]], which affected ecosystems across the land.
29
30----
31
32'''The Survivors'''
33
34 * [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Therian]] mammals, which include today's marsupials and placentals, instead took over, even before dinosaurs became extinct. However, South America still harbored a group called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridiolestida meridiolestians]], which continued to be a prominent group of mammals until the mass extinction that also killed off the dinosaurs. Even after, they had two last hurrahs: the giant herbivorous ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peligrotherium Peligrotherium]]'' and the much younger mole-like ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necrolestes Necrolestes]]''. The exception to these were multituberculates, which did initially diversify alongside therian mammals and did in fact dominate the land mammal faunas even after dinosaurs disappeared, culminating in the panda-sized ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taeniolabis Taeniolabis]]''. However, [[ForWantOfANail they failed to recover their number in Asia]], and in the resulting vacuum a lineage of placentals, the rodents, made their debut. Soon, they spread out of Asia and outcompeted multituberculates, which quickly declined until they eventually became extinct. However, [[https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(21)00591-1?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0960982221005911%3Fshowall%3Dtrue a study from 2021 seems to suggest that multituberculates and meridiolestidans kept modern mammals from diversifying until their decline in the late Paleocene]], which might imply that their extinction is unrelated to the spread of rodents, which would have only began to diversify ''after'' there were fewer multituberculates. Perhaps the longest-surviving archaic mammal lineage was that of an enigmatic fossil from the Miocene of New Zealand, the so-called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Bathans_mammal Saint Bathans mammal]]. [[https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0605684103 No other anatomically-similar mammals are known from anywhere else in the Cenozoic]], implying that it was most likely [[LastOfHisKind a stowaway from before Zealandia became isolated in the Cretaceous]].
35
36----
37
38[[/folder]]
39
40[[folder:From Kangaroos to Echidnas]]
41
42----
43
44'''Mammals Down Under'''
45
46* Australian mammals haven't changed much since the non-avian dinosaur extinction (not counting human influence of course, which wiped out almost everything in this folder): there have always been [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsupial marsupials]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotreme monotremes]] in the LandDownUnder -- except for a few placental rodents and bats, which arrived later than the latter. Since modern Australian mammals are already so bizarre-looking, how would the ones we killed off have looked? Not unlike their surviving contemporaries, really; but some were a bit larger. The biggest examples were the herbivorous diprotodonts, called after their most well-known member: ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Diprotodon]]''. Other examples of diprotodontids include the panda-like ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulitherium Hulitherium]]'', the small ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neohelos Neohelos]]'', and the "horned" ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zygomaturus Zygomaturus]]''. An example of prehistoric true wombat is ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phascolonus Phascolonus]]''. Together, kangaroos, koalas, wombats, Australian possums, diprotodonts and still others make the most diversified marsupial subgroup, incidentally called “Diprotodonts” as well, and mostly herbivorous.
47
48----
49
50'''Marsupial Tapir?:''' ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palorchestes Palorchestes]]''
51
52* ''Palorchestes'' was a relative of the diprotodontids, and is interesting for mainly one feature: the shape of its skull has led many scientists to believe it had a short, tapir-like proboscis. There is a possibility of this not being the case, as more recently they have been reconstructing it to look like a more generic giant wombat. Many other reconstructions still keep the trunk, for [[RuleOfCool obvious reasons]]. Its grasping claws show that it was most likely a browser, similar to the [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs giant ground sloths and chalicotheres]]. If it did have this "trunk" like scientists theorize, it could have been very helpful in grasping branching to pull leaves off of.
53
54----
55
56'''Extinct Kangaroos'''
57
58* After the diprotodonts, the biggest known prehistoric plant-eating marsupials were kangaroos. These are a very recently-evolved and specialized subgroup of Australian marsupials related with koalas, wombats, Australian possums, and the extinct diprotodontids (while both American opossums and the carnivorous marsupials of Australia and nearby islands were only distantly related). The biggest known extinct kangaroo was ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Procoptodon]]'', more precisely ''Procoptodon goliath'', nicknamed the "short-faced kangaroo". 9 ft tall when erect (one and half more than a modern red kangaroo), and weighing three times more than it (being also more massively-built), ''Procoptodon'' had a short stocky tail, powerful front-limbs, and a flat, round snout; the latter has given to it the nicknames "short-faced kangaroo" and also “koala-faced kangaroo”. Despite these differences, its body plan was the same of its modern relatives, being apparently well-suited to jump (though probably less-agile), and with the typical upward-opened pouch in the females to carry the youngsters around. But unlike modern kangaroos, ''Procoptodon'' was probably a browser of high tree-foliage no other animal of the time could reach (not even ''Diprotodon''). As a whole, kangaroos are considered the Australian equivalents of the hoofed mammals from every other landmass; indeed, the “koalaroo” made this even more than the others -- its feet had ''only one toe each'', ending with a true horse-like hoof. Some have recently proposed that unlike their modern counterparts, these kangaroos were far too large to hop; they had large buttocks, and their ankle bones suggested that they ''walked in the same way as human beings''. Related with ''Procoptodon'' was ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sthenurus Sthenurus]]'' ("strong tail"), which was a bit smaller but showed the same basic traits of the procoptodont. Both kangaroos were members of a distinct subfamily in respect to modern kinds, within the Macropodids (the kangaroo family). Interesting that some smaller prehistoric kangaroos might have been partially carnivorous or even active predators, like ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekaltadeta Ekaltadeta]]''.
59
60----
61
62'''Early Sabertooths:''' [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deltatheroida Deltatheroida]]
63
64* It could be surprising the presence of sabertoothed mammals that lived ''alongside the dinosaurs''. Deltatheroideans were distant relatives of modern day marsupials that specialized into predatory niches, and have even [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeornithoides#Possible_predation_by_mammals preyed on dinosaurs]]. One genus, ''Lotheridium'', had long canines, making it a sabertooth long before the more iconic placentals and ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Thylacosmilus]]'' evolved. The prototype of the group is ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deltatheridium Deltatheridium]]'', similar to the former but without the "sabers".
65
66----
67
68'''Knuckles the Giant Echidna'''
69
70* Prehistoric marsupials were not the only oversized mammals in ancient Australia: monotremes, too, were amazing. Modern monotremes are the most archaic extant mammals, and are well-known because they have preserved the original habit to produce eggs instead of alive newborns. Their extinct relatives are poorly-known in fossil record, and were not different than the modern ones (platypus and echidna). ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Steropodon]]'' and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obdurodon Obdurodon]]'' were ancient platypuses with a smaller beak. However, one member of the echidna group reached the size of a sheep: ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murrayglossus Murrayglossus]]'', closely related with modern long-beaked echidnas.
71
72----
73
74[[/folder]]
75
76[[folder:The Elephant's Clan]]
77
78----
79
80'''Seaweed-eating Walruses'''
81
82* Elephants and their extinct relatives are all mentioned in the UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs page. But they have some still-living relatives which don't resemble elephants much, but share a similar inner anatomy and a similar dentition. Sirenians (manatees and dugongs) descended from hippo-like ancestors (''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prorastomus Prorastomus]]'' and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pezosiren Pezosiren]]''), but at the same epoch of the cetaceans achieved a fish-like shape very convergently with them. Examples of prehistoric sirenians are the early ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protosiren Protosiren]]'' (lit. "first mermaid"), contemporaneous with ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Basilosaurus]]'', and the more recent tusked ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rytiodus Rytiodus]]'', bigger than the four living species of sirenians and closer to dugongs than to manatees like most extinct members of the group. Interesting that the familiar modern North American manatee has nails surprisingly similar to an elephant's in its flippers! Among extinct sirenians, we can't forget the [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Steller's Sea Cow]]: a relative of the modern dugong 9m long and weighing 10 tons, much bigger than extant sirenians (and also more than most prehistoric relatives) which are 5m long at most and weighing no more than 1.5 tons. This animal lived in northern Pacific until 1768, when it got extinct merely ''27 years after its discovery'' because of overwhaling. This is the only modern large sea-mammal that didn't manage to escape the fate many true whales still risk to do: perhaps because the Steller's sea-cow was a very specialized animal devoid of teeth (unlike manatees & dugongs) that, eating only seaweed, was too dependent to limited environments and thus especially vulnerable to hunting.
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84----
85
86'''Seals or Hippos?:''' the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmostylia Desmostylians]]
87
88* Another lineage of sea mammal related to proboscideans is now totally extinct: the Desmostylians. They were a bit similar to small hippopotamuses but with shorter hindlimbs than forelimbs, thus having been compared with "herbivorous seals". ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Desmostylus]]'' ("bundle-pillar") is the prototype and the most known of the group; another is ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleoparadoxia Paleoparadoxia]]'' ("ancient paradox"). ''Desmostylus'' was first-found by Marsh in the USA during the Bone Wars; the group as a whole lasted relatively few, living 20 million years in the middle-Cenozoic seas around the world and got extinct before the appearance of the first hominids. They had four protruding tusk-like incisors (a couple for each jaw) similar to those of early proboscideans like ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Moeritherium]]'', making them looking a bit like walruses; but their tusks were shorter, and unlike the shellfish-eating walrus the desmostylians ate weeds like the closely-related dugongs and manatees. Desmostylians made a mammalian order on its own, the ''Desmostylia'', because their molars were very complex and totally different of every other mammal.
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90----
91
92'''Elephant's Kin?'''
93
94* Though very rarely mentioned, prehistoric and modern hyraxes are very interesting. Today, hyraxes are small, guinea pig-like mammals living in African savannahs and forests. Once, however, they were very diversified, and some were even ''cow-sized'', like the meaningfully-named ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanohyrax Titanohyrax]]'' which resembled more a hornless modern buffalo or the early hoofed ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Coryphodon]]'' than to a guinea pig!. Hyraxes were once the dominant group of large herbivorous mammals in Africa along with elephants, but then were replaced by the still-ruling odd-toed and even-toed ungulates. Hyraxes, along with Embrithopods (''Arsinoitherium'' and relatives), Desmostylians, Sirenians and Proboscideans, make together the so-called “Paenungulates” (“almost hoofed”); modern hyraxes too still preserve nails very similar to those of an elephant. Once thought related with ''true'' hoofed mammals (the “ungulates”), they are now believed a more ancient mammalian branch, arisen in Africa and related with some modern shrew-like animals (the elephant-shrew, the golden mole, the tenrec, the otter-shrew, but also the much larger aardvark) still-living here. Together, all these mammals have recently been grouped in the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrotheria afrotheres]] (“African beasts”).
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96----
97
98[[/folder]]
99
100[[folder:The Lion's Clan]]
101
102----
103
104'''Saber- scimitar- dirk- whatever- toothed Cats:''' ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megantereon Megantereon]]'' and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homotherium Homotherium]]''
105
106* There were dozens of kinds of saber-toothed cats in RealLife other than the stock American ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Smilodon]]'' from the Ice Ages. Some of them are nicknamed according to the form of their fangs: ''Homotherium'' was the "scimitar-tooth", ''Megantereon'' the "dirktooth". While ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Machairodus]]'' ("sword-tooth") was the Euro-Afro-Asian saber-toothed equivalent of ''Smilodon'', not to mention the actual prototype of the group (named Machairodontines and not Smilodontines); many European paleoartists have considered ''Machairodus'' as the ''real'' stock sabretooth instead of ''Smilodon''. While evidence is inconclusive for other saber-tooths, ''Homotherium'' is known to have been a pack hunter that seemed to favor ''elephants'' as prey. But there were also more familiar-looking cats in the past: some of them are mentioned in the sections below. A curious thing is, some prehistoric meat-eating mammals which were not cats at all, developed a bewildering "sabre-toothed" look ''before'' true cats appeared: two main examples are the early carnivoran ''Eusmilus'' and the marsupial ''Thylacosmilus'', in particular the latter, being closer to ''kangaroos'' than to cats. Imagine a [[MixAndMatchCritter sabretooth with a possible kangaroo pouch]] and you'll have the idea.
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108----
109
110'''Our Ancestors' Enemy?:''' ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinofelis Dinofelis]]''
111
112* However, ''Dinofelis'' ("terrible cat"), despite resembling more a leopard or a jaguar, was actually a short-fanged saber-toothed cat. In ''Series/WalkingWithBeasts'' it acts as a literal leopard, carrying human-ancestors with its mouth by grasping them from the head [[note]]This is based upon real fossils of young australopithecuses which show signs of bites in their skulls from leopards, but not from ''Dinofelis''.[[/note]] and transporting them up to the trees. But in reality, the habits of all these whatever-toothed cats is still a mystery; certainly, they were not identical among each other, and it's arguable they had different hunting styles according to the shape of their fangs -- maybe some were solitary while others were pack-hunters, just like the difference between modern tigers/leopards/whatnot and lions.
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114----
115
116'''False and true Cheetahs:''' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_cheetah the American Cheetahs]] and the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acinonyx_pardinensis Eurasian Giant Cheetah]]
117
118* Among the closest relatives of modern felines, other than the more-known [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs American Lion and Cave Lion]] there were also the so-called American Cheetahs (two species of the genus ''Miracinonyx'', meaning "wonderful cheetah" in Latin/Greek). Despite the name they were actually more related to the modern cougar (''Puma concolor'') than to the modern cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus''), but shared with the latter a very slender running body shape with especially long legs. The Miracinonyxes lived in North American Ice-Age pleistocenic prairies, and were possibly specialized hunters of modern pronghorns (which developed their speed just to escape these "cheetahs"). A ''real'' prehistoric cheetah was the Eurasian Giant Cheetah, ''Acinonyx pardinensis'' ("panther-like cheetah"). It was very similar and closely-related with the modern African cheetah and was also a slender long-legged runner, but is unknown if it was speedier or not than the living one. It was surely bigger, the size of a modern lion, and arguably more powerful than the famously weak modern-day cheetah. Both American "cheetahs" and the Eurasian true cheetah, however, were still less-mighty hunters than their contemporaneous relatives, the American and Cave Lions respectively, which were bigger than modern lions; ''Acinonyx pardinensis'' was perhaps less-powerful than the [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Cave Hyenas]] as well (see below). Not all prehistoric cats were large, though: most were as small as many modern felines, and one of them was the ancestor of our domestic friend.
119
120----
121
122'''Big Badass Wolfhyenas:''' the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachycrocuta Giant Hyena]] and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borophagus Borophagus]]''
123
124* Prehistoric wolves and hyenas were not so different-looking than ours, but sometimes were larger. The [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs dire wolf]] (''Aenocyon dirus'') was a sort of wolf bigger than ours. Of course, not all extinct dogs were large, don't forget there were fox ancestors as well. Among extinct hyenas (which by the way, are more closely related to cats than dogs) we can mention ''Crocuta crocuta spelaea'' aka the "cave hyena", a subspecies of the modern spotted hyenas (''Crocuta crocuta'') living in northern territories during the Ice Ages. Other hyena species were very different: some were as large as bears like the Giant Hyena (''Pachycrocuta''), others resembled more cheetah (''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chasmaporthetes Chasmaporthetes]]'') or even weasels (''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ictitherium Ictitherium]]'')! On the other hand, some extinct canines were deceptively hyena-like: ''Borophagus'' (once called "Osteoborus") from the Middle Cenozoic is one example, while the archaic ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesperocyon Hesperocyon]]'' and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynodesmus Cynodesmus]]'' were more weasel-like. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicyon Epicyon]]'' is considered the biggest known canid, much more than the "giant" dire wolf. ''-cyon'' in Greek means "dog". These canines are also called "bone-crushing dogs", because like modern hyenas they specialized in [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin crushing the bones]] of their prey to eat the nutrient-rich marrow. As a side-note: all modern domestic dogs from Chihuahuas to Great Danes descend from the grey wolf, no matter how big they are or how they look; an amazingly rapid evolution, really, lasted only a few thousand years.
125
126----
127
128'''Pseudo-cats and Half-dogs:''' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimravidae Nimravids]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphicyonidae Amphicyonids]]
129
130* Before cats, bears, dogs and hyenas appeared on Earth, there were their pseudo-looking relatives, whose appearance was similar to their successors or a mix of these animals. Bear-dogs are more correctly called amphicyonids: some were very fox- or wolf-like (ex ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynodictis Cynodictis]]'', "dog-weasel"), while others were more similar to long-tailed bears, like ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Amphicyon]]'' ("half dog"), the prototype of the group. A [[AllAnimalsAreDogs very dog-like]] "bear-dog" appears in ''Series/WalkingWithBeasts''. Among true bears and related forms, other than the [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Cave Bear and Short-Faced Bear]], we can mention the archaic bear ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriotherium Agriotherium]]'' (which lived also in Africa, where no bears roam today), the panda-relative ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indarctos Indarctos]]'', and South American ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapalmalania Chapalmalania]]'' (actually related with the raccoon, and once nicknamed the "South American giant panda" in a time pandas were believed giant raccoon cousins as well). Nimravids (the pseudo-cats) were also very diversified: ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Eusmilus]]'' ("good knife") was indeed a large sabretoothed member of the pseudo-cat family, while the namesake ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimravus Nimravus]]'' (also large) was more similar to modern big cats. ''Eusmilus'' resembled a lot ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Smilodon]]'' except for its shorter legs, and is sometimes nicknamed "the false sabretooth tiger". ''Nimravus'' has left a perforated skull which revealed an astonishing story; it was stabbed in its head... by a sabretooth, possibly ''Eusmilus'' itself! The skull wound was also partially healed, meaning the ''Nimravus'' survived. But in some sources (even recent ones), nimravids are wrongly treated as [[TaxonomicTermConfusion actual cats]]. Other nimravids include the small ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinictis Dinictis]]'' ("terrible weasel"), not to be confused with "Dinichthys" (the older name of the giant fish ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Dunkleosteus]]''), and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoplophoneus Hoplophoneus]]'' ("armed killer").
131
132----
133
134'''The First Carnivorans:''' ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miacis Miacis]]'' and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viverravus Viverravus]]''
135
136* True carnivorans (members of the order Carnivora) appeared soon after the start of the Mammal Age, but remained small and unspecialized for a long amount of time. In the Eocene most of them were still weasel- or genet-like, but they already showed the separation in the two main branches still living today: the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caniformia dog branch]] (dogs, bears, raccoons, weasels and ''seals'') and the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feliformia cat branch]] (cats, genets, mongooses and ''hyenas''). ''Miacis'' was once believed a forerunner of the "dog branch", while ''Viverravus'' was thought of the "cat branch"; today both are considered too primitive and just outside the Carnivora group. All modern large-sized carnivorans, from bears to lions, wolves to walruses, descend from weasel-shaped critters. However, many small carnivorans retain still today their ancient shape/size: because of their small size, they are much rarer in the fossil record and their evolution is less understood. We can mention ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamitataxus Chamitataxus]]'', an ancient mustelid related with modern badger; ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekorus_ekakeran Ekorus]]'', an African mustelid the size of a leopard; and ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalictis Megalictis]]'', a relative of the wolverine the size of a black bear.
137
138----
139
140'''From an Otter to killer Walruses:''' ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puijila Puijila]]'' and ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelagiarctos Pelagiarctos]]''
141
142* Pinnipeds (containing seals, sea lions, and walruses) don't have the most extensive fossil record. It was once theorized that they had evolved from ''two'' lineages: the true seals (also known as earless seals) from otters, and the eared seals (sea lions and fur seals) and walruses from bears. Currently, they are believed to have evolved from the otter-like ''Puijila'', resulting in the relatively primitive ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enaliarctos Enaliarctos]]'', ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmatophoca Desmatophoca]]'', and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allodesmus Allodesmus]]'' (still with proper legs instead of true "flippers"), before diverging even further. Worth mentioning is that [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odobenidae Odobenidae]], the family now only containing the walrus, was once a lot more diverse. Probably the most interesting member was ''Pelagiarctos'' ("sea bear"), which appears to have sharp, shredding teeth like that of a hyena. It is believed to have been one of the top predators of the Miocene seas, feeding on prey ranging from other pinnipeds to the aforementioned Desmostylians.
143
144----
145
146'''Not true Carnivores:''' ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megistotherium Megistotherium]]'' and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machaeroides Machaeroides]]''
147
148* In the Early Cenozoic, at the time "true" carnivorans were still weasel-like, creodonts ("meat tooth") occupied the ecological niche ruled by modern large carnivorans. Very diversified in shape and size, their appearance included that of all modern carnivorans (hyena-like, dog-like, bear-like, weasel-like, tiger-like, or a mix of all these). However, creodonts were more primitive and arguably slower-moving than our meat-eating mammals: this has been often cited as the cause of their extinction, but scientists aren't sure of that. ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Hyaenodon]]'' ("hyena tooth") is regarded as the stock creodont, notable for its extremely powerful jaws to crush bones (hence the comparison with hyenas). There were several species of it, from dog-sized to cow-sized: the largest hyaenodont species appears in ''Series/WalkingWithBeasts'', described as rhino-sized and a formidable predator, but some hypothesize it was mostly a scavenger. But even bigger creodonts are known to science (for example ''Megistotherium'', "huge beast"), some of them could have even been the biggest land meat-eating mammals ever, rivalling the alleged "biggest carnivore" ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Andrewsarchus]]''. Other smaller creodonts included the "sabertoothed" ''Machaeroides'' (whose name recalls the true sabertooth ''Machairodus''), the fast-running ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tritemnodon Tritemnodon]]'' and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinopa Sinopa]]'', the hyaenodon relative ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pterodon_(mammal) Pterodon]]'' (''not'' ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Pteranodon]]''), and so on.
149
150----
151
152'''Carnivorans or Pangolins?:''' ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxyaena Oxyaena]]'' and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriofelis Patriofelis]]''
153
154* Oxyaenids were primitive carnivorous mammals, traditionally classified as creodonts. North American oxyaenids were the first carnivorous mammals to appear during the late Paleocene, while smaller radiations of oxyaenids in Europe and Asia occurred during the Eocene. They were superficially cat-like or weasel-like beasts that walked on flat feet, in contrast to modern cats, which walk or run on their toes. Anatomically, characteristic features include a short, broad skull, deep jaws, and teeth designed for crushing rather than shearing, as in the hyaenodonts or modern cats. The species that named the family is ''Oxyaena'' ("sharp" or "drawn-out hyena"), a cat or wolverine-like creature with a body length of 1 meter and short limbs, presumed to be a leopard-like predator that could climb trees in search of prey. The cat-like ''Patriofelis'' (Latin for "father cat") was bigger- between 1.2 and 1.8 meters long, making it around the same size as a modern cougar. It had long legs with broad feet, suggesting that it may have been a poor runner, but a quite good swimmer. However, the biggest member of the family was ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Sarkastodon]]'' ("flesh tearing tooth‭"), which lived during the Eocene in Mongolia. Having a body length of 3 meters, the ''Sarkastodon'' was probably an apex carnivore that preyed on large mammals in its range such as brontotheres, chalicotheres, and rhinoceroses. While the oxyaenids have been originally considered basal carnivorans [[ScienceMarchesOn recent scientific studies and discoveries]] have revealed that they are actually closer related to pangolins, which are an entirely separate and unique order of mammals despite resembling anteaters.
155
156----
157
158[[/folder]]
159
160[[folder:From Rhinos to Horses]]
161
162----
163
164'''True Rhinos:''' ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleoceras Teleoceras]]'' and
165''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aceratherium Aceratherium]]''
166
167* Modern rhinos are often referred as "prehistoric-looking" in media: there's a bit of truth in this, because the genera now housing the White Rhino and Sumatran Rhino, ''Ceratotherium'' ("horned beast") and ''Dicerorhinus'' ("two-horned nose") respectively, date back 5-10 million years. But the trope originated for another reason: many classic prehistoric mammals were deceptively rhino-looking (though with different horn-shapes): the six-horned ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Uintatherium]]'', the fork-horned ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Megacerops]]'', and the bizarre ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Arsinoitherium]]'' are the most well-known examples. But only some of the extinct "rhinoceroses" were ''really'' such, being classified in the Rhinocerotidae. Among them, the most spectacular were the [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Woolly Rhino]] and the [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Unicorn Rhino]]. Other more primitive true rhinos include the short-limbed hippo-shaped ''Teleoceras'' (whose remains are extremely abundant in Middle Cenozoic North America), the small, forked-horned ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menoceras Menoceras]]'' (similarly to the distantly-related brontotheres), and the no-horned ''Aceratherium'' (acera = with no horns). Other prehistoric true rhinos had features such as prominent tusk-like lower incisors (modern Indian rhinos also have them but not visible externally); still others were very small for rhino standards, not bigger than a sheep (and they were not insular forms), and potential preys even for small carnivores -- contrasting with the almost-invulnerable modern animals.
168
169----
170
171'''Rhino-Horses and Rhino-Hippos:''' ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyracodon Hyracodon]]'' and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamynodon Metamynodon]]''
172
173* Two groups of close relatives of rhinos were the Hyracodontids and the Amynodontids. The hyracodonts, other than "the biggest land mammal ever" ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Paraceratherium]]'', included smaller animals like ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juxia Juxia]]'' and the namesake ''Hyracodon'', both more horse-looking than rhino-looking just like the "indricothere". The hyracodontids' real rhino-affinities could be betrayed by their feet that were three-toed (not one-toed like modern horses), and often bigger heads than those of [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs horse-ancestors]]. The Amynodonts (among them ''Metamynodon'') were no-horned, hippo-looking and probably similar to hippopotamuses in habits; they convergently resembled some other extinct unrelated animals like the toxodonts, the coryphodonts, or the even-toed anthracotheres (see further).
174
175----
176
177'''True and false Tapirs:''' ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palaeotherium Palaeotherium]]'' and extinct Tapirids
178
179* Among ancient perissodactyls, it's also worth of note ''Palaeotherium'' ("ancient beast"): a tapir-like horse relative that lived in eocenic Europe, it is the prototype of the equids' sister-family: the Palaeotherids indeed, which perhaps includes also the alleged "horse" ''Hyracotherium''. Modern true tapirs are the only living odd-toed ungulates which still retain the original body plan of the archaic forms (except for the trunk that is a very specialized trait): for example, they have four digits in their forefeet, like the most primitive members of the horse family like ''Eohippus'', and unlike horses & rhinoceroses have remained forest critters still today. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miotapirus Miotapirus]]'' from Miocene was virtually identical to modern tapirids; ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyrachyus Hyrachyus]]'' ("hyrax-pig"), ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helaletes Helaletes]]'', and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heptodon Heptodon]]'' were earlier tapir-like perissodactyls without the trunk. Returning to ''Paleotherium'', it detains the honor to be one of the four only mammal kinds portrayed in the famed Crystal Palace Park in London, together with ''Megaloceros'', ''Megatherium'', and ''Anoplotherium'' (see below), in a time in which many other extinct mammals were already known by science.[[note]]Benjamin W. Hawkings (the models' creator) attempted to build also the American Mastodon and ''Glyptodon'' in the park (and the New Zealand giant Moa bird as well), but sadly he didn't receive enough funding to finish or even start these models. [[/note]]
180
181----
182
183'''South American Imitators:''' ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrapotherium Astrapotherium]]'' and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrotherium Pyrotherium]]''
184
185* South America was isolated from other continents for most of the Mammal Age, and thus its fauna developed in its own direction. There were not only elephant-size sloths and tank-like glyptodonts: there were also less-armoured but still odd-looking "ungulates", not related with any modern animal today, but similar in shape/size to camels, horses, hippos, buffalos, elephants, rhinos, hyraxes, and even chalicotheres (a great example of convergent evolution). The two most represented are ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Macrauchenia]]'' and ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Toxodon]]''.[[note]]A close relative of the latter has a name that is an Anagram of it: ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xotodon Xotodon]]''.[[/note]] These two guys lived during the Ice Ages in South American pampas, and were among the last members of their groups (Litopterns and Notoungulates respectively); but other relatives lived much earlier, always in South America. ''Pyrotherium'' ("fire beast") was rather like a [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs gomphothere]], ''Astrapotherium'' ("star-footed beast") looked like the ur-elephant ''Moeritherium'' above; while ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoatherium Thoatherium]]'' (a litoptern) was a perfect imitator of the horse-ancestors. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theosodon Theosodon]]'' was also related with ''Macrauchenia'', but without the large "nose" of the latter. On the other hand, ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homalodotherium Homalodotherium]]'' was related with ''Toxodon'', but with sharp front-claws like a sloth. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomashuxleya Thomashuxleya]]'', another notoungulate, was named in early 1900 by the most important Argentinian palaeontologist, Florentino Ameghino, from famous English biologist Thomas Huxley.[[note]]Ameghino named many other little-known ancient mammals with [[NamedAfterSomebodyFamous people names]], usually important biologists. Other later palaeontologists did the same, for example with a horned notoungulate named ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoffstetterius Hoffstetterius]]''.[[/note]] ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhynchippus Rhynchippus]]'', despite its equine name, was a small ''Toxodon'' relative. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesotherium Mesotherium]]'' (traditionally named "''Typotherium ''") was also a notoungulate like the 1-ton toxodont, and yet was resembled a rodent in shape and size!
186
187----
188
189'''The First Large Herbivores:''' the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantodonta Pantodonts]]
190
191* Once, ungulates (hoofed mammals) were believed a natural group of mammals; now we know that several mammalian lineages reached the ungulate body plan independently, and they do not make a real ensemble (even though the two main groups of modern ungulates, perissodactyls and artiodactyls, are still related to each other according to genetics). Those which lived at the beginning of the Cenozoic were rather undifferentiated each other, and did not resemble most modern hoofed mammals. Among the most famous there are the small "ur-horses" ''Eohippus/Hyracotherium'' and the large ''Uintatherium'', both from the Eocene epoch: among the other Eocene "ungulates", ''Coryphodon'' and ''Phenacodus'' are frequently portrayed in books. ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Coryphodon]]'' ("crested tooth") was one of the first land mammal to exceed 1 ton in weight, and was rather similar to a hippo in shape, with a short tail and small tusks like the latter. The coryphodont was one of the biggest members of the mammalian order called the Pantodonts ("all teeth"), which also included ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanoides Titanoides]]'' ("similar to a titan") and the Paleocenic ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barylambda Barylambda]]'' and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantolambda Pantolambda]]'' among the others. The latest two were smaller and more basal than ''Coryphodon'', with still the archaic long tails of most early mammals. ''Barylambda'' was bigger/more massive and arguably more specialized for herbivory, while ''Pantolambda'' was more weasel-like and probably more omnivorous.
192
193----
194
195'''The first Hooves'''
196
197* ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Phenacodus]]'' was once put in the obsolete order of basal mammals called the "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condylarth Condylarthrans]]", which included also the similar ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meniscotherium Meniscotherium]]'' and South American ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didolodus Didolodus]]'', and less-ungulatian animals such as ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ectoconus Ectoconus]]'', ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyopsodus Hyopsodus]]'', the carnivorous Mesonychians, and even huge ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Andrewsarchus]]''; today the phenacodonts are mostly considered very basal odd-toed ungulates. ''Phenacodus'' ("imposter tooth") was not larger than a dog: with its several small hoofed digits, it was similar to ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Eohippus]]'' but with the long tail of the most basal hoofed mammals, and thus it is often mentioned as one of the prototypical "basal ungulates". Just like ''Eohippus/Hyracotherium'', ''Phenacodus'' was often depicted as a possible prey of the famous giant bird ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursSaurischianDinosaurs Gastornis]]''; while the massive ''Coryphodon'' and ''Uintatherium'' were probably too powerful to be threatened by any predator when adults, like modern hippos, rhinos, and elephants today. One curiosity: a proposed clade inclusive of carnivores and odd-toed ungulates is named the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zooamata Zooamatans]], meaning "animal friends" or "beloved animals". This because this clade includes domestic dogs, cats (both carnivorans) and horses (a perissodactyl) that are considered usually pets or friends rather than working or meat animals, at least in modern Western Culture (in China and Korea for example dogs can be ''eaten'', and the wild relatives of dogs, house cats and domestic horses are often hunted as game animals and/or pests/dangerous animals even in the Western World); while the clade excludes the Artiodactyls (cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, buffaloes, deer, camels, gazelles, etc. aka the even-toed ungulates), that have traditionally (but not always: think about the small pet pigs, or the deer often kept in zoos as an attraction) been considered only working, meat, wool or game animals in western culture.
198
199----
200
201'''Rodents or Ungulates?:''' ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylinodon Stylinodon]]'' and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trogosus Trogosus]]''
202
203* Also worthy of notes among the earliest placentals are two little-portrayed groups of early ungulate-like mammals, the Taeniodonts and the Tillodonts. Both from Eocene or so, they were possibly related to ''Coryphodon'' and the other Pantodonts, but had specialized strong frontal teeth for gnawing (anticipating the more evolved rodents and rabbits) and robust bodies apt for digging burrows. ''Stylinodon'' and ''Trogosus'' were examples respectively of the taeniodonts and the tillodonts: like the pantodonts, these early lineages of herbivores got extinct without leaving descendants today. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protungulatum Protungulatum]]'' (lit. "the first ungulate") was even more archaic than the above: it was already-existing in the Late Cretaceous other than the Early Cenozoic, coexisting with non-bird dinosaurs! Some, however, thought it was not even a true placental but only a close placental-relative.
204
205----
206
207[[/folder]]
208
209[[folder:From Deer to Whales]]
210
211----
212
213'''Rhinoceros-Deer:''' the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protoceratidae Protoceratids]]
214
215* Many prehistoric ungulates resembled deer in body-shape and head-shape, but again, not all were members of the deer family (the Cervids) like ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Megaloceros]]'', ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Eucladoceros]]'', and ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Cervalces]]''. Many of them had very unfamiliar-looking horns/antlers above their heads. Among pseudo-deer, the most portrayed in popular books have been ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Synthetoceras]]'' and ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Sivatherium]]'', even though neither made its way in ''Series/WalkingWithBeasts'' unlike the "Giant Irish Elk". ''Synthetoceras tricornatum'' ("three-horned fused horn") was traditionally classified as a distant camel-relative: today is often thought closer to true ruminants or even a very basal ruminant. It was antelope-shaped, with typical antelopine hooves and an elongated head not unlike a modern hartebeest antelope. But the synthetoceras had ''three'' horns, placed in a way that astonishingly resembles a ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursOrnithischianDinosaurs Triceratops]]'' (and the African modern-day Jackson's chameleon as well)! Indeed, the two frontal horns were short, recurved, and antelope-looking, but the third one was on its ''nose'' and was forked just like that of "[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Brontotherium]]", though longer and more slender. It should be noted that this combination of horns is not so unusual as one might think: the male of the modern [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetracerus_quadricornis four-horned antelope]] has a couple of small hornlets in front of the typical ones, and even our modern ''giraffe'' has also a bump in front of the two familiar "horns" (better, "ossicones") above its head, which in some individuals can grow up to become a true "horn"! Other relatives of ''Synthetoceras'' were simpler-horned: ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syndyoceras Syndyoceras]]'' was similar to the latter even in its name ("fused double horn"), but had a shorter nasal forked horn, and was stockier-bodied; the basal ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protoceras Protoceras]]'' ("first horn") had a combination of horns more similar to a uintathere, and also small tusk-like "canines" like the latter. This is the official prototype of the family of even-toed ungulates ''Synthetoceras'' belonged to: the Protoceratids.
216
217----
218
219
220'''Moose-Giraffes''': the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climacoceratidae Climacoceratids]]
221
222* ''Sivatherium giganteum'' ("giant [[Myth/HinduMythology Shiva]]'s beast") is the most known prehistoric member of the Giraffids, the giraffe family of the even-toed ungulates. It was much less tall than a modern giraffe (''Giraffa camelopardalis''), being "only" 2.5m tall at the shoulder, but was more massively-built and perhaps heavier than a giraffe itself. But the sivathere didn't look like a giraffe at all: it had deceptively moose-like pseudo-antlers, and had a ''short'' neck not unlike the only other modern giraffid: The Okapi, which looks like the ancestors of the family. Thus, this mammal could be qualified as sort of "moose-giraffe". The "Shiva's beast" was found in several places, among them Africa and India (hence the Indian-sounding name), and lived as recently that it could have met prehistoric humans. Related with ''Sivatherium'' but not proper giraffids (belonging to a closely-related family, the Climacoceratids) were the smaller, more ancient but equally pseudo-antlered ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climacoceras Climacoceras]]'' and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prolibytherium Prolibytherium]]'' from Northern Africa or Europe. Returning to the giraffe family... just about this detail: remember the classic Lamarckian "lengthening of the giraffe's neck" we have learned at school? Indeed, no other extinct mammal has such a long neck other than our giraffe (except perhaps some prehistoric camels): modern animals often are not so overshadowed by their prehistoric relatives, really.
223
224----
225
226'''Ancient Pronghorns and Musk-Deer'''
227
228* The three-horned pronghorn-like ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cranioceras Cranioceras]]'' ("horned skull") and the five-horned musk deer-like ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoplitomeryx Hoplitomeryx]]'' ("armed fawn") belonged to extinct families of ruminants with no modern close relatives; their heads mixed up deer and antelope traits, like those of the modern Pronghorn and the Muntjak deer. Our pronghorn "antelope" (''Antilocapra americana'') is not a true antelope (antelopes are bovids, see below); it's the [[SoleSurvivor only-surviving]] species of its own family of ruminants, Antilocaprids, which once included many more species (''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramoceros Ramoceros]]'', ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merycodus Merycodus]]'', etc.) in North America, with very variously-shaped horns. Modern musk-deer, too, are not deer at all but belong to their own family of ruminants, the Moschids. The fossil record of their ancestors is poorly-known, as well as that of the tiny Tragulids (the modern "mouse-deer" or chevrotains).
229
230----
231
232'''Tatanka's Relative:''' ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bison_antiquus Bison antiquus]]''
233
234* Bovids (the family containing buffaloes, sheep, goats and antelopes; that is, all ruminants with ''true'' horns) are the most successful ungulate group today, and are very diversified, with more than 100 described existing species. As a group they have appeared more recently than most other ruminants, and their prehistoric relatives were not much different in their appearance. We can mention however the Giant Bison which lived in Ice Age North America. There were many species of them, some were larger than their present-day relatives and often with more developed horns as well; these traits were perhaps to defend themselves against prehistoric lions (see above). Bison reached North America from Eurasia very recently in terms of geological times, and have since then replaced most other ungulate groups (like horses and camels) in the Great Plains -- with the exception of the aforementioned [[SoleSurvivor pronghorn]]. Only one species of bison still remains in America: the other living species of bison is European and extremely rare today. Among extinct bovines it's also worthy of mention ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelorovis Pelorovis]]'', an large relative of the African buffalo with even longer horns, living in Africa before the apparition of modern lions; its misleading suffix, however, make thinking it was a prehistoric sheep (ovis = sheep in Latin). Another ancient bovine living in Europe, almost managed to survive until today: the [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Aurochs]].
235
236----
237
238'''Giant Camel:''' ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanotylopus Titanotylopus]]''
239
240* In prehistory, extinct relatives of camels and llamas were very diversified: the great majority of them were North American, where they started their evolution -- only recently did they colonize other landmasses. Thus, camelid evolution has often been compared with that of equids (which also started in North America and then spread elsewhere). Some extinct camelids were even taller than our modern dromedaries: ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Aepycamelus]]'' (once called "Alticamelus", both names meaning "lofty camel"), the most famous of them, was a sort of giraffe-like animal with very elongated neck and limbs. Even bigger was ''Titanotylopus'' ("titanic camel"). Other "camels" were more antelope-like (ex. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stenomylus Stenomylus]]''): they still had true hooves and not the (unusual for artiodactyls) camel toes yet, and ran the ancient North American plains. The recently-extinct ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Camelops]]'' ("camel look") was instead very similar to a modern camel both in shape and in size, and has also been found in the famed tarpits like La Brea, together with pronghorns. ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Camelus moreli]]'', found in the 2000s and also recently-extinct, is believed today the biggest known camelid ever and lived in the Middle East, in Syria (hence the common name, "Syrian Giant Camel"). Note at this point that the well-known specializations for desert life has appeared very recently in camel story, and regard only modern Old-World species: their ancient North American relatives lived mainly in grasslands, thus is unlikely they would have fat-storing humps (except maybe ''Camelops'') and resistance against thirst.
241
242----
243
244'''Ancient Boars and Peccaries'''
245
246* Many hoofed mammals of the distant past were pig-like in shape: indeed, the pig frame is considered a primitive one among "ungulates", still retained by some modern hoofed mammals, the best example being boars and peccaries (which are artiodactyls) and also the tapir (which is a perissodactyl). Among extinct true boars (the Suids, aka "the pig family"), ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metridiochoerus Metridiochoerus]]'' was related with the modern warthog but with straighter upper tusks. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubanochoerus Kubanochoerus]]'' was stranger: it had smaller tusks than ''Metridiochoerus'', but an enigmatic horn-like long prominence above its head no modern suid has, for uncertain purpose. This thing made ''Kubanochoerus'' a sort of "unicorn-boar". While ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platygonus Platygonus]]'' was an ancient peccary relative. Almost-surely these animals were omnivores like their modern counterparts and shared the same tubular nose of modern swine, even though the shape of the nose doesn't fossilize (just like the trunks of the elephants and the tapirs). Some prehistoric suids (aka the boars) and tajassuids (aka the peccaries) were bigger than ours, but never at the same level of the biggest [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Entelodonts]], traditionally considered pig-relatives but maybe closer to hippos (see below) according to [[ScienceMarchesOn recent research]].
247
248----
249
250'''Early Even-Toes:''' the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merycoidodontoidea Oreodonts]]
251
252* There was another group of smallish to large pig-like even-toed ungulates that were abundant in ancient North American prairies: the Oreodonts, such as ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merycoidodon Merycoidodon]]''. Once considered true pigs, [[ScienceMarchesOn recent research]] suggest they were not closely related with pigs but with camels instead. Indeed, modern genetics has shown ''camels'' are arguably the most basal living artiodactyls, not the suids & hippos as traditionally thought: since modern pigs & hippos ''don't'' ruminate, the camelids' rumination was obtained by parallel evolution with the more evolved true ruminants (bison, antelopes, goats, giraffes, deer, moose, pronghorn, etc.). Modern taxonomy says that among still-living artiodactyls first emerged camels, then pigs, then hippos/''whales'', and finally the true Ruminants. Among the latest ones, the first to emerge were the Tragulids. Among ruminants the Tragulids (mouse-deer), the Moschids (musk-deer) and even some Cervids (true deer) still retain the ancestral pair of upper canine teeth. Giraffids (giraffes), Antilocaprids (pronghorns), and Bovids (true antelopes, bovines, goats and sheep) lack these canines. Bovids are usually considered the apex of the artiodactyl evolution: indeed, they are the most abundant ungulates today, with more than 100 species. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anoplotherium Anoplotherium]]'' ("unarmed beast") was one of the most primitive artiodactyls, with generic head and long tail -- resembling more basal "ungulates" like ''Phenacodus''. Probably related with camels like the Oreodonts, the anoplothere is one of the four extinct mammals portrayed in the London Crystal Palace Park, together with ''Megaloceros'', ''Megatherium'' and ''Palaeotherium''.
253
254----
255
256'''Hoofed Stanleys and small-mouthed Pats:''' The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesonychidae Mesonychians]] and the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthracotheriidae Anthracotheres]]
257
258* Pat & Stanley in Prehistory! The two popular hippo & dog characters of the Internet could be linked with two early groups of even-toed ungulates: the dog-like Mesonychians and the hippo-like Anthracotheres. Mesonychians (or mesonychids) were the first meat-eating mammals which obtained a size larger than a house cat, at the beginning of the Mammal Age. Their prototype has traditionally been the wolf-sized ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Mesonyx]]'' ("split nail"). Rather [[MixAndMatchCritter dog-like or hyena-like]] in shape but with comparatively larger heads and longer tails, they had [[MixAndMatchCritter hooves in their feet]] a bit similar to modern pigs. Mesonychids are today thought the closest relatives of artiodactyls, but were once placed in the artificial "condylarth" grouping together with other critters mentioned in other folders: interestingly, the alleged giant hunter ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Andrewsarchus]]'' was once often considered a gigantic overgrown member of the mesonychians. Once, mesonychids have also usually been considered the ancestors of whales, because their skull (specifically their teeth and ear bones) resembles that of the most primitive cetacean known, ''Pakicetus''. Thanks to modern genetics, we know now that [[ScienceMarchesOn hippopotamuses]] are the closest relative of whales and dolphins. Sadly, the fossil record of prehistoric hippos is poorly known (unlike that of prehistoric rhinos): we can mention ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippopotamus_gorgops Hippopotamus gorgops]]'', a close relative of the modern giant hippo but even bigger and with extremely protruding, periscope-like eyes; another is ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenyapotamus Kenyapotamus]]'', which was once considered a "missing link" between hippos and peccaries. On the other hand, the similar-looking Anthracotheres ("coal beasts") have a rich number of species described, among them the namesake ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthracotherium Anthracotherium]]''. They were probably the closest hippopotamus relatives, or even their ancestors. The main difference with hippos is their much smaller mouth; they probably didn't "yawn" like hippos do today to scare enemies or rivals.
259
260----
261
262'''Early Cetaceans'''
263
264* ''All'' mammals were small and rodent-shaped in their evolutionary beginnings. Some became larger and more derived after the extinction of the dinosaurs, but none to the same level as whales: not even the unrelated manatees, which still have a partially land-mammal-looking head with "whiskers", a skeleton not spongy like the one of the whales, and ''nails'' in their flippers. The first whale ancestors appeared only 10 million years or so after the non-avian dinosaurs' extinction. Once thought to have descended from dog-like mesonychids (see above), whales [[ScienceMarchesOn are now thought to be]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Even-toed_ungulate artiodactyls]] (even-toed ungulates), aka the group including camels, pigs, cattle, deer, and hippos (the latest ones were their closest relative). The first whales were once thought descendants of the aforementioned Anthracotheres, or possibly ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indohyus Indohyus]]'' ("Indian pig"), which was closely related with whales. The first true cetaceans probably spent much of their time on land, feeding on dead fish and drowned animals. ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Pakicetus]]'' and ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Ambulocetus]]'' are well-known examples of this, but both were found only at the end of the XX century. The human-sized protocetid ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocetus Protocetus atavus]]'' (lit. "ancestral first whale") was named so because it was one of the very first early cetaceans discovered by science, at the start of the 1900. The basilosaurid ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorudon Dorudon]]'', also found in early 1900, was more evolved: similar to an undersized ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Basilosaurus]]'' but without such an elongated body, it's portrayed in ''Series/WalkingWithBeasts'' as a prey of the latter. Only recently-found, in the eighties, the remingtonocetid ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remingtonocetus Remingtonocetus]]'' was an example of an early freshwater-dwelling "whale" with a long snout. These kinds (and several others, like the protocetid ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indocetus Indocetus]]'' and the ''Dorudon''-like basilosaurid ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zygorhiza Zygorhiza]]'') lived only few million years after ''Ambulocetus'' and ''Pakicetus'', but had already reached a more fishy-shape and were mainly or fully aquatic. Despite this, they still maintained hind-flippers as a memory of their terrestrial origins just like their larger cousin, ''Basilosaurus''.
265
266----
267
268'''The first modern-looking Whales'''
269
270* The first totally-swimming cetaceans (the earliest cetaceans are collectively called "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeoceti Archaeocetans]]", "ancient whales", both the amphibious ones and the completely aquatic ones), the most famous being the huge yet slim ''Basilosaurus'', progressively developed more powerful tails with a fluke, eliminated the visible neck, lost their hair substituting it with fat blubber under their skins, and placed their nostrils above their head until they became blowholes (sadly, soft tissue is unknown among early cetaceans). They were all active hunters like modern orcas and sperm whales, but still had differentiated teeth. In other words, they were "heterodont": land mammals, us included, are almost always heterodont. The anterior teeth, originated from the incisors and canines, in early cetaceans were pointed like small tusks; the posterior ones, originated from the cheek-teeth, were serrated and laterally flattened like those of some mammalian land insectivores. This is an old legacy which betrays the whales' origins from land mammals. Then, some cetaceans lost altogether their teeth substituting them with baleen (the "Mysticeti"). ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammalodon Mammalodon]]'' ("mammal tooth") was a very early mysticete that still preserved small teeth; the first true filter feeders, among them ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cetotherium Cetotherium]]'' ("whale-beast", similar to a modern grey whale or a pygmy whale, and smaller than an orca) appeared much more recently than the archeocetan whales, when our planet turned colder and immense shoals of krill began to float in polar waters. The cetothere was possibly among the favorite preys of the humongous shark [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Megalodon]]. The other main group of advanced cetaceans (the "Odontoceti"), however, has preserved the teeth, but these teeth became all similar to each other (in other words, they became "homodont"). Some of them (ex. ''[[http:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentriodon Kentriodon]]'') were related to our dolphins and porpoises, while others (see below) were more similar to sperm-whales or narwhals. All odontocetans, curiously, lost their right nostril altogether, so their blowhole is made only of the left one. They also developed a fatty prominence above their heads for complex echolocation, maybe compensating the almost-nonexistant olfact of cetaceans and their relatively poor underwater vision. Modern whales & dolphins have smaller eyes than many fish and squids (the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platanista Indian river dolphin]] is totally blind) and they cannot "smell" at all: olfact is useless when you keep your nostrils eternally closed underwater -- if water enters in their lungs they'll be suffocated. Obviously, we don't know exactly when whales lost the ability to detect scents. See also [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_cetaceans here]] to learn more about the fascinating story of the evolution of cetaceans.
271
272----
273
274'''Sharks/Swordfishes/Walruses of Whales'''
275
276* Among the ancient dolphin-like odontocetans, some reached very unusual traits compared with the modern ones -- even though our narwhal and some beaked whales (''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesoplodon_layardii Mesoplodon layardii]]'', ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesoplodon_densirostris Mesoplodon densirostris]]'') are not far away: ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squalodon Squalodon]]'' ("shark-toothed") had serrated teeth similar to a shark; ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurhinodelphis Eurhinodelphis]]'' ("good-nosed dolphin") had a prominent upper jaw similar to a swordfish as well as the unrelated ichthyosaur ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Eurhinosaurus]]''. But the most astonishing is ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odobenocetops Odobenocetops]]'' the "walrus whale": found in 1993 in Peru, it had two long tusks protruding backwards, and often ''asymmetrical'' just like the modern single-tooth of the narwhal (in both cases only males had this feature, and in both cases the overgrown tooth is the left). The function of both the teeth of the odobenocetops and the spiral tooth of the narwhal is still uncertain, maybe courtship devices. Of course the ''Odobenocetops'' was the chosen cetacean in Series/SeaMonsters as a prey of juvenile "Megalodon", just because [[RuleOfCool it looks cool]]. A very recent discovery (2014) is ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semirostrum Semirostrum]]'' ("half beak"), a porpoise-relative with lower jaw twice longer than the upper one. The most spectacular odontocetans ever, however, were the "macroraptorial sperm-whales": see UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs for them.
277
278----
279
280[[/folder]]
281
282[[folder:From Sloths to Rabbits]]
283
284----
285
286'''A variety of Extinct Sloths'''
287
288* ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Megatherium]]'' is the stock animal within the group called giant ground sloths, related with anteaters and armadillos. But the megathere represent only the biggest example: many other "giant sloths" weren't so giant-things (even though still large by human standards). More robustly-built than modern tree-sloths, with long, strong tails unlike the latter (but equally weaponed with the typical large claws), giant ground sloths belonged to different families within the xenarthran subgroup named the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folivora Folivores]] ("leaf-eaters"). One of these families, the Megalonychids, was believed to have survived until today with the modern two-toed sloth (''Choloepus''), which however makes [[ScienceMarchesOn today]] a family on its own, the Choloepodids. While the more familiar three-toed sloth (''Bradypus'') has always been put in its own family, the Bradypodids (which once included also ''Choloepus''). Thanks to their powerful backbone, many (but probably not all) ground sloths were actually capable to walk around with their body upright, a bit like giant bears. Being members of the archaic mammalian group called [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenarthra xenarthrans]], they were prevalently South American (some of them migrated to the North however). In spite of having primitive teeth and small brains, they were so well-adapted to their environments that they flourished for almost the entire length of the Mammal Age. They got mysteriously extinct only few thousand years ago. It's also worth noting that modern sloths are just members of the same group, but specialized to the familiar tree-living style. Their slowness is arguably an evolved trait to hide them within the canopy; giant ground sloths were arguably a bit faster-moving, looking like a modern giant anteater.
289
290----
291
292'''The Megathere's Clan'''
293
294* The South American ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mylodon Mylodon]]'' (family Mylodontids) is one of the best-known: smaller than ''Megatherium'' but still large, it has left remains of fossil ''hair'' like the latter, and perhaps it too was kept in caves by ancient people as a source of food. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eremotherium Eremotherium]]'' was of the same family of ''Megatherium'' (the Megatherids): it was one of its closest relatives, and nearly as large as it, but unlike the latter managed to reach North America. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scelidotherium Scelidotherium]]'' of the Scelidotherid family has a name that recalls that of an armored dinosaur, ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursOrnithischianDinosaurs Scelidosaurus]]''. The exclusively North American ''Megalonyx'' ("big nail") of the Megalonychid family and ''Nothrotheriops'' ("sloth beast") of the Nothrotherid family were smaller: the second is nicknamed the "Shasta's ground sloth". ''Megalonyx'' has had a curious scientific story briefly mentioned in UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs, in the megathere chapter of course. The similarly-named relative ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalocnus Megalocnus]]'' of the basal Megalocnid family was a Caribbean kind of ground sloth with short limbs, and possible prey for the land-dwelling [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeBirds Giant Cuban Owl]]. Several other extinct sloth genera have a name that ends in ''-ocnus''. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hapalops Hapalops]]'' was a small primitive South-American sloth of the Megatherids (one of the first-appeared of the group) that was perhaps able of climbing. Last example, the small ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalassocnus Thalassocnus]]'' of uncertain classification (maybe a megatherid, maybe a nothrotherid): this one was one of the most bizarre sloths ever, being semi-aquatic, and ultimately becoming a ''marine'' sloth (in Greek "thalasso" = sea)! Its lifestyle was probably similar to a modern sea-otter but remaining plant-eating (not fish or shellfish-hunting) convergently with the elephant-relatives Desmostylians, and its limbs remained like those of a land sloth (it didn't develop the paddle-like limbs of a seal). It's worth noting than even modern sloths are excellent swimmers despite what one might think, even though they only cross the rivers of South America and not the seas.
295
296----
297
298'''Ancient Armored Mammals'''
299
300* [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Giant glyptodonts]] were not the only ancient relatives of armadillos: there were also smaller [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cingulata Cingulates]] (aka armored xenarthrans) as well. All were South or North American like modern armadillos. One of them, ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stegotherium Stegotherium]]'', has a name that recalls [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursOrnithischianDinosaurs a famous armored dinosaur]], ''Stegosaurus''. Another, ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utaetus Utaetus]]'', was one of the first true cingulates, from Eocene. Both were related with the common nine-banded armadillo. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyptotherium Glyptotherium]]'' (not to be confused with ''Glyptodon'') and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoplophorus Hoplophorus]]'' ("armor-bearer"), on the other hand, were true glyptodonts, but smaller than the two stock guys ''Glyptodon'' and ''Doedicurus''. Other glyptodonts are ''Palaehoplophorus'' ("ancient armor-bearer"), ''Propalaehoplophorus'', ("before the ancient armor-bearer"), and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapropalaehoplophorus Parapropalaehoplophorus]]'' ("nearly before the ancient armor-bearer"). The latter, described in 2007, has one of the most sesquipedalian names of any prehistoric mammal: 23 letters, the same as the notoriously sesquipedalian dinosaur ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifePachycephalosaurs Micropachycephalosaurus]]''. Despite their names, both were small-sized and archaic members of their own group of animals (ornithischian dinosaurs and xenarthran mammals respectively). A little-known critter, South American ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macroeuphractus Macroeuphractus]]'' ("big armadillo"), was a 100kg true armadillo with bone-crushing jaws and sharp teeth, showing adaptations towards carnivory. It is the only truly carnivorous xenarthran known so far. Modern armadillos are insectivorous at the most, with their small undifferentiated teeth, with the biggest one, the 30kg [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priodontes_maximus Giant Armadillo]] of South America, being a termite-eater and ant-eater. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pampatherium Pampatherium]]'', similar to a glyptodont, was the prototype of the extinct Pampatherids and owes its name from the Argentinian prairies (the ''pampas'').
301
302----
303
304'''The Glyptodont's Clan'''
305
306* One of the most unusual cingulates was ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peltephilus Peltephilus]]'' ("armor-lover"), another ancient armadillo of the extinct family Peltephilids whose it's the prototype, but was distinguished from all other cingulates because of its pair of horns on its nose, originated from the overgrown bony scutes of its cranial shield. This makes it one of the smallest horned mammals of all times, being dog-sized, but even smaller was the "horned gopher" ''Ceratogaulus'' or ''Epigaulus'', which was a rodent: a striking case of evolutive convergence between the two. Like the latter ''Peltephilus'' was a burrower, and like the "gopher" the exact function of its "horns" is unknown: defense, courtship, display, were all possible. Both miniaturized horned mammals lived about the same time (Middle Cenozoic), but the horned rodent was North American, the horned armadillo was found in Argentina, by Ameghino. It's worth noting that cingulates were almost the ''only'' mammals that developed true bony armors on their bodies, even in prehistoric times: the pangolins' armor is indeed made of horny scale-like structures without any bone, see ''Eomanis'' and ''Eurotamandua'' in UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metacheiromys Metacheiromys]]'' from early Caenozoic North America was once thought an ancestor of xenarthrans, but was actually a pangolin relative: it had the generic long-tailed look of early mammals (pangolins included), and some specializations for insect-eating. Little-known is the natural history of another ant/termite eater of our days, the African [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orycteropus_afer Aardvark]]: it was related neither with xenarthrans nor with pangolins, but with several African "insectivores" and, to a lesser degree, with hyraxes, manatees, and elephants (being an Afrothere).
307
308----
309
310'''The Rodents' Success'''
311
312* The rodents' fossil record is very scant: no surprise, since they are usually so small, and small animals usually hardly fossilize unlike the large ones. However, today rodents are the most successful mammalian group, with about ''half'' the species of all living mammals. This success is probably due to their very specialized maxillary grinding mechanism other than the robustness of their pair of incisors, which make them capable of eating almost-everything. They also have agile manipulative hands, keen senses, intelligence, good social skills, and the ability to build complex structures (think about the famous "dams" of the beavers and the "underground cities" of the Prairie "dogs" and the South American vizcachas). All these traits are shared with another group of mammals, the monkeys & apes: indeed, rodents and primates have recently discovered to be related to each other [[ScienceMarchesOn thanks to genetics]]. Even though most ancient rodents were similar-looking to ours, ex the ancient squirrel ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramys Paramys]]'' ("nearly mouse") living in the Early Cenozoic, there were also some striking guys in the past: for example, ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Castoroides]]'' ("false beaver") was a land-living beaver-relative as large as a ''black bear'', weighing 150 kg; ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palaeocastor Palaeocastor]]'' ("ancient beaver") was another smaller and earlier land-living beaver which built corkscrew-like burrows in the ancient North American plains - a sort of predecessor of the modern prairie dog. Both "beavers" lacked the adaptations for swimming of modern beavers (like palmated feet and paddle-like tail), and obviously didn't build "dams" in the rivers and lakes. The most unusual-looking paleo-rodents were, however, the Mylagaulids (among them the "[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs horned gopher]]"), the latter of which had a couple of hornlets on their nose a bit like a miniature brontothere. Note that, despite their wild diversity (climbers, gliders, runners, hoppers, swimmers, diggers) no living rodent has any horny prominence on its head. These horned rodents were small-sized and lived in burrows, like many modern relatives.
313
314----
315
316'''Giant Rodents of South America'''
317
318* And then, there were several South American ungulate-like forms with long limbs and hoof-like feet (similarly to their modern relative, the capybara), convergently with ungulates. Two known examples are ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoberomys Phoberomys]]'' ("fearsome mouse") and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telicomys Telicomys]]'', which were ''cow-sized'' and long believed the largest rodents ever (capybara do not exceed the size of a large dog), until the recent (2008) discover of the bison-sized ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephoartigasia Josephoartigasia]]'', another South American critter named from real people continuing the tradition started in the 1900 by Ameghino (see above). The closest modern relative of this enormous rodent is a little-known animal, the rare [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacarana Pacarana]] (''Dinomys''), still one of the largest living rodents, the size of a modern water beaver. It's not a casual connection, that modern-day capybara (South-American as well) is the biggest modern rodent: South American mammals were, and still are, very unfamiliar to a North American or European observer, beaten only by the Australian ones. In the West Indies (Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica etc.) some [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Giant Hutias]] reached 100 kg of weight -- twice a capybara.
319
320----
321
322'''The Origin of Rabbits'''
323
324* On the other hand, Lagomorphs (rabbits, hares and pikas, once believed true rodents as well) had always had the same small-size and look they still preserve today. They are a sibling group of rodents, with a similar dentition but more specialized to eat grass. Unlike true rodents, lagomorphs had ''two'' pairs of ever-growing incisors in their upper jaws (the smaller ones are behind the familiar larger ones), while their lower jaws had only one pair of incisors. Curiously, rabbits & hares have the little-known habit to ''eat'' their own feces: they are rich of undigested nutritious food, and they definitively expel them only the second time after having digested better their first feces. This is their method of "ruminating". It’s hard to believe, but the affinity lagomorphs / true rodents was definitively proven only [[ScienceMarchesOn few years ago]], again thanks to genetics. Before, rabbits and so on were once thought not related at all with rats and squirrels. According to different scientists, lagomorphs were believed related with ungulates, with primates, or even with ''carnivores''! One example of prehistoric rabbit-ancestor is ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palaeolagus Palaeolagus]]''. An interesting recently-extinct lagomorph is ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prolagus_sardus Prolagus sardus]]'', known as the Sardinian Pika: similar to a short-eared rabbit but more related with pikas indeed, it lived in the Mediterranean islands of Corsica and Sardinia in historical times, but the real reason of its extinction is not fully known.
325
326----
327
328'''Early Insect-Eaters'''
329
330* Traditionally we have put in the “insectivores” group all those mammals whose anatomy is comparable to that of most Mesozoic mammals: small size, generic mouse-like look and non-specialized teeth. Actually modern insectivores are very different among each other; while the most commonly known (hedgehogs, moles, shrews) ''are'' closely related (making the Eulipotyphles aka "true insectivores" together with the Caribbean ''venomous'' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solenodontidae Solenodonts]] and the historically-extinct [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nesophontidae Nesophonts]]), many other less familiar “insectivores” -- that is, the Asian banxrings or tree "shrews" (Scandents), the tenrecs of Madagascar & the golden "moles" and otter-"shrews" (Afrosoricids), and sengis or elephant "shrews" (Macroscelideans), all from mainland Africa -- are not. Their resemblance is just due to the fact they still preserve a body-plan similar to the most common one in the Mesozoic, while non-insectivoran mammals modified it becoming more recognizable. Several "insectivores" are known from the Cenozoic's fossil record, but they, being usually small, are rather uncommon just like the rodents and the lagomorphs. Maybe the most famous and specialized is ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Leptictidium]]'' ("slender weasel"), a long-legged animal similar to a 3 ft long kangaroo with shrew-like teeth and (maybe) a shrew-like mobile nose. Not related with any modern mammal, it was once put in the "protoeutherian" ("first eutherians") artificial group of basal placental mammals. It's uncertain if ''Leptictidium'' and its relative ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leptictis Leptictis]]'' (from which the name ''Leptictidium'' comes) were runners like a ground bird or a small dinosaur, or more traditional hoppers: none of the kangaroo-shaped mammals today (the marsupial true kangaroos and the rodents jerboas, kangaroo-rats, springhares etc.) do run, but being the Leptictids not related with any of them, this is still possible. Furthermore, some jerboas are known to be able to walk bipedally other than jumping. The leptictidium appears as the main character in the first ''Series/WalkingWithBeasts'' episode, which portrays a whole family living in the ancient Eocene forests. This singular animal was even believed by some the inspiration for Scrat in the WesternAnimation/IceAge films; as it is, however, Scrat actually bears a close resemblance to the Mesozoic mammal ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cronopio_(mammal) Cronopio]]'', although this was pure coincidence.
331
332----
333
334'''Shrews, Hedgehogs, Moles'''
335
336* More generic-looking and shrew-like than ''Leptictidium'' and ''Leptictis'' was ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zalambdalestes Zalambdalestes]]'', that lived before the non-avian dinosaurs’ extinction—Late Cretaceous in Asia, along with guys like ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursSaurischianDinosaurs Velociraptor, Oviraptor,]]'' and ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursOrnithischianDinosaurs Protoceratops]]''. Traditionally believed an “insectivore”, recent research seems to suggest it was close to the ancestors of live-bearing mammals. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinogalerix Deinogalerix]]'' ("terrible gymnure") was a hedgehog relative, thus a "true" insectivore, but with a longer tail more like the modern Gymnure or [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echinosorex_gymnura Moonrat]] (the biggest modern insectivore) than the hedgehog; it was probably covered in fur or at least bristles, but not spines. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pholidocercus Pholidocercus]]'' ("scaly tail") was the exact opposite: similar but not closely related with a hedgehog, it was found in the famous eocenic Messel Tar Pits (see below), and did preserve signs of spines. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimylus Dimylus]]'' was once believed an ancient relative of moles and desmans (in the Talpid family), but today it's classified in a distinct group.
337
338----
339
340[[/folder]]
341
342[[folder:From Bats to People]]
343
344----
345
346'''The Mammals' First Flight'''
347
348* During mammal evolution, some groups reached the ability to glide: some rodents, some marsupials, and the dermopterans. The most known extinct glider is ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Planetetherium]]'' ("gliding beast"), belonging to the same group of the so-called “flying lemur”, the Dermopterans of our days. But ''only bats'' developed powered flight. Unfortunately, Chiropterans (the scientific name of bats, meaning "winged hand") are a very poorly-known group in the fossil record because their skeleton is way too fragile to fossilize well. Despite this, awesomely well-preserved bat remains have been discovered in the most famous fossil deposit from Early Cenozoic: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messel_pit Messel Pit]], in Germany. This deposit has also many, many other early mammals: among them, the aforementioned hopping bug-eater ''Leptictidium'', the early pangolins ''Eurotamandua'' & ''Eomanis'', and even a basal ungulate, ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propalaeotherium Propalaeotherium]]''. These and other mammals from this deposit are so well preserved that ''even their fur and stomach contents are known''. In short, we know'em almost like they were still-living animals. One of the very first bats, ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palaeochiropteryx Palaeochiropteryx]]'' ("ancient chiropteran") has been discovered here, and show us all the traits associated with their modern relatives: fingered wings, large ears, and even structure for echolocating are known from these finds. Even earlier but also fully-chiropteran was ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icaronycteris Icaronycteris]]'' ("[[Myth/GreekMythology Icarus]] bat") from North America, believed the most ancient known bat to science. The younger ''Archaeopteropus'' from Italy was one of the first ancestors of megabats or "flying foxes". Bats are the only extant land mammals in New Zealand, and [[BiggerIsBetter the largest known]] in the fossil record was ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcanops Vulcanops]]''. According to experts, bats achieved their nocturnal habits to not compete with the mainly-diurnal birds in the search of food. The earliness of the "first bats" has led scientists to make an intriguing hypothesis: perhaps some sort of gliding proto-bats were already living on Earth ''before'' pterosaurs and non-avian dinosaurs disappeared? This would also mean bat-winged critters ''did'' exist at the Age of Dinosaurs (see also ''Yi'' in "UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeBirdlikeTheropods").
349
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351
352'''After dinosaurs… Squirrel-Monkeys:''' the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plesiadapiformes Plesiadapiformes]]
353
354* The late Mesozoic and early Cenozoic saw the rise of the primates and their relatives from an ancestor fairly close to rodents. Living at the very start of the Cenozoic, ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Plesiadapis]]'' ("almost Adapis", see below) is often mentioned in books as the "first primate", but it was probably only a close relative, like the Dermopterans above. Bats too (especially the megabats) used to be considered related with primates until recently, but again, [[ScienceMarchesOn modern genetic research]] has shown they were actually linked with carnivorans and true ungulates. Together, odd-toed ungulates, carnivores and bats were once called "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasoferae Pegasoferans]]", literally "[[Myth/GreekMythology Pegasus]] Beasts". Pegasus, the winged horse, refers to the winged bats (Chiropterans) & horses (Perissodactyls) considered together: the Ferans are the Carnivorans and Pangolins together. Today is accepted a new clade called the "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrotifera Scrotiferans]]" (scrotum-bearers), including not only the "pegasoferans" but also the Artiodactyls (even-toed ungulates and cetaceans). All them shared, at least originally, the scrotum in males (lost secondarily in some subgroups, like seals, whales, and pangolins), that most other mammal lineages lack. Primates and near-primates, that are ''not'' scrotiferans, are possibly the only exception among the placentals, having a scrotum despite not being members of the group (among mammals in general also the male kangaroos have a scrotum). This means that male rodents, sloths, true shrews, rabbits, elephants, platypuses, etc. have no scrotum. Returning to ''Plesiadapis'', it was a sort of middle way between a squirrel and a monkey, with a lemur-body but gnawing teeth like a rodent. Living in trees, it resembled a lot some ancient mammals which lived in the Mesozoic, particularly ''Purgatorius'' (see [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles The Origin Of Mammals]]). Today, there’s still an animal which strongly resembles ''Plesiadapis'' and ''Purgatorius'', though devoid of gnawing teeth unlike the former: the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandentia banxring]]. Improperly called “tree shrew”, the latter was once classified as an “insectivore” (see above), but unlike true shrews it has well-developed eyes and a scrotum in males, like true primates. Interesting that one modern true primate, the lemur Aye-Aye (''Daubentonia madagascariensis''), has independently developed gnawing teeth as well.
355
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357
358'''Early true Primates:''' the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primate#Evolution Ancestral Primates]]
359
360* [[StockPhrase Man-Is-Descended-From-Apes]]. [[RunningGag Man-Is-Descended-From-Apes]]. ''[[OverlyLongGag Man-Is-Descended-From-Apes]]''. '''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis NO!!!]]''' Man '''didn't descend''' from other modern apes (that is, chimps, gorillas, orangutans, gibbons): we humans '''and''' chimps/gorillas/orangutans/gibbons all descend from a common ancestor, often called "ape" in popular media but no more closely related to chimps as it was to ourselves. Primate evolution is of particular interest for obvious reasons, but it'd be a too long argumentation here, and would go much beyond the aim of these notes: talking about the most interesting extinct critters. Indeed, most ancient non-hominid primates ''weren't'' particularly interesting compared to their modern descendants: their look was quite monotonous, some resembled more a lemur, other a tarsier, other a monkey, and other modern apes. Most of them were small as well, although oversized baboons and overgrown lemurs (see just below) are known in fossil record. We can mention one representative for each lineage, from the furthest to the nearest to humans. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapis Adapis]]'' was an ancient relative of lemurs; ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omomyidae Omomys]]'' was a sort of proto-tarsier; ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aegyptopithecus Aegyptopithecus]]'' ("Egyptian monkey") was one of the first true monkeys. ''Series/WalkingWithBeasts'' chose to portray other two animals, the Adapis relative ''Godinotia'' (wrongly shown with a monkey head) and the early true monkey ''Apidium'' in the two first episodes respectively. For extinct apes, see further.
361
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363
364'''Giant Baboons and Malagasy Pseudo-Apes'''
365
366* The largest true monkeys living today are baboons and their relatives like the mandrill, widespread in African grasslands and forests. However, at the time of the earliest human ancestors there were some "giant baboons" in African savannas, among them ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinopithecus Dinopithecus]]'' ("terrible ape"). Maybe bigger than a gorilla, it was probably a competitor with our human ancestors when there was a prey or a carcass to be contended. Unlike most African megafauna of the time (Pliocene-Pleistocene) giant baboons didn't manage to reach our days, maybe depleted by us humans. About the much more primitive lemurs: the largest lemur alive in Madagascar today is the gibbon-sized and endangered indri (''Indri indri''). However, long ago, there were truly gigantic forms. The most well-known is the orangutan-sized ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megaladapis Megaladapis]]'' ("large Adapis"), also known as the koala lemur, notable for the shape of its skull, which most likely housed a trunk-like upper lip. There's also ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeoindris Archaeoindris]]'' ("ancient Indri"), which came from a long extinct group known as the sloth lemurs. Most sloth lemurs resembled modern tree sloths, but ''Archaeoindris'' was more similar to an extinct ground sloth. Larger than a gorilla, this is thought to be one of the largest primates, second only to the famous ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Gigantopithecus]]''. Sadly, these and other similar creatures went extinct a mere 500 years ago when the first Malagasy settlers arrived in Madagascar (see also the [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursSaurischianDinosaurs Elephant bird]]).
367
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369
370'''Bipedal or Quadrupedal Ancestry?:''' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ape Prehistoric Hominoids]]
371
372* [[UsefulNotes/MahatmaGandhi Until he extends the circle of compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace]]. The closest human ancestors are at the bottom of this page dedicated to Mammals because of this. Technically [[PunyEarthlings a subset of primates]], hominids is a group of animals somewhat controversial to talk about, for obvious ethical reasons. The hominid group itself has long fluctuated in definition, going from all beings closer to us that to chimps, to all things closer to us that to baboons & other true monkeys. The most widely accepted use today includes the great apes; that's is, all beings closer to us that to gibbons, and that's the one to be used here. Anyway, this family split off from gibbons about 15 million years ago, and not long after, it split off in two main branches: the Asian branch, nowadays made up of the 3 species of orangutan; and the African branch, which today includes the 2 species of gorillas, the 2 species of chimps, and the 1 species of humans. Focusing in that latter branch, the branch gorillas belong to splits off from the main branch 7 million years ago, and the chimp branch splits from the branch that would lead to us shortly after. That latter branch was subject to selective pressure due to having to adapt to the harsher savannah environment: the 2 modern chimp species split from each other at roughly the same time our branch split from Lucy (see below).
373
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375
376'''The Ascent of Man'''
377
378* The popular idea of the human lineage starting with a quadrupedal ape and gradually turning more erect, as seen in the well-known image of the "March of Progress", is probably not accurate: human bipedalism, in contrast to those of birds and other extinct archosaurs, is based on a vertical spine and torso, and so the hands and feet operate at different levels. However, that is also seen in the rest of hominoids: in contrast with monkeys, whose default posture involves a horizontal spine and both hands and feet in the same branch, hominoids have a default posture where the spine is vertical, and the hands grab branches directly overhead. This can be seen in living apes, where the primary tree-dwelling gibbons and orangutans will default to a vertical posture even in the ground, while the more ground bound chimpanzees and gorillas exhibit quadrupedalism, but apparently independently evolved from each other (so their common ancestor, which is also our ancestor, didn't walk on its knuckles). In conclusion, the evolution of our gait, rather than being a transition from 4 legs to 2 so we could see better, was probably more akin to adapting a tree-dwelling position for use on land because we could see better. Gorillas weren't quite as pressured to keep their bipedal posture, and thus evolved a unique sort of quadrupedalism, avoiding species-wide chronic back aches and tendency to fracture hips.
379
380----
381
382'''Real and alleged Human Ancestors'''
383
384* Due to jungles not being good places for fossilization, not many species of extinct apes are known. The most popular one is surely ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Gigantopithecus]]'', a relative of the orangutan (that also convergently exhibited gorilla-like characters), because of [[BiggerIsBetter its size]]. Other extinct apes were much smaller, not bigger than our chimpanzees (''Pan'') or orangutans (''Pongo''). Many of them were once considered true human ancestors, or at least the common ancestors of apes and humans, but [[ScienceMarchesOn now are believed]] only distant relatives which shared some apparently human-like traits. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proconsul_(mammal) Proconsul]]'' ("before Consul": Consul was a chimpanzee) is today classified in the Proconsulids, small apes (like the gibbons) outside the proper hominids. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dryopithecus Dryopithecus]]'' ("oak ape") & ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenyapithecus Kenyapithecus]]'' ("Kenya's ape") were true hominids but in a distinct lineage from the human-ancestors, the Dryopithecines. "Ramapithecus" ("[[Myth/HinduMythology Rama's ape]]", now synonymized with ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sivapithecus Sivapithecus]]'' "[[Myth/HinduMythology Shiva's ape]]") was a Pongine, in the same lineage of orangutans and the gigantopithecus, aka the Asian Hominids. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pliopithecus Pliopithecus]]'' ("Pliocenic ape") & ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propliopithecus Propliopithecus]]'' ("Before pliocenic ape") were not even apes but ''monkeys'': a bit like the baboons, macaques and langurs of our days. All these extinct primates, and others, are often mentioned in old textbooks for their alleged close relationship with us, but now their relevance is drastically fallen down. However, two apes here are of crucial importance for our purposes: ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oreopithecus Oreopithecus]]'' ("mountain ape") of Italy and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orrorin Orrorin]]'' ("original man" in African native language). Why? Because these two apes show fossils that hint at the very beginning of the human gait, with somewhat human-like pelvises and femurs. Today scientists, thanks to the study of the Molecular Clock, believe that ''Oreopithecus'' is just an evolutionary dead end of specialized small apes named the Dendropithecids, similarly to the gibbons or the extinct Proconsulids above. While the ''Orrorin'' belongs to the clade that would ultimately lead to humans, being very similar to the Australopithecines or even one of them.
385
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387
388'''The First Apemen:''' the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australopithecine Australopithecines]]
389
390* The beings included in the Australopithecines evolutionary grade are generally ape-like, being to the rest of apes what baboons are to other Old-World monkeys: savannah-adapted relatives of a mostly forest-living group. As we get towards modern times, the species of australopithecines (or, more shortly, the australopiths) become steadily more bipedal, adapt their feet to ground locomotion, and generally become more human-like. In the past, all the closest relatives of the genus ''Homo'' were classified in the genus ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australopithecus Australopithecus]]'' (“southern apes”, because they were all found in Africa). As ScienceMarchesOn, recent taxonomical revisions have split off 2 other significant genera from ''Australopithecus'': the earlier ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardipithecus Ardipithecus]]'' ("ground ape", found in 1994 and originally put in one single species, ''A. ramidus''), and the specialized ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranthropus Paranthropus]]'' (“near-human”). The latter included some robust, man-sized species (''P. boisei'', ''P. robustus'') adapted to a strict diet made of bamboos or other fibrous plants like ''Gigantopithecus'', and equally convergently with gorillas (''Gorilla''); the other australopithecines were much smaller and more gracile, and were more generalist feeders. Interestingly, modern gorillas and chimpanzees make a very similar case: the first are big, robust and bamboo-eating like ''Paranthropus'', the latter are small, agile, and all-eating like ''Australopithecus''. Significant species of the modernly-intended genus ''Australopithecus'' are ''A. afarensis'' ("Afar People's southern ape"), best known for the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_(Australopithecus) specimen]] found in 1971 and known as [[Music/TheBeatles Lucy]]; and ''A. africanus'' ("African southern ape", the first discovered australopithecine, in 1925), likely an ancestor of the genus ''Homo''. The australopiths of the namesake ''Australopithecus'' genus were portrayed in 2001 as the main characters of the forth episode of ''Series/WalkingWithBeasts'': here a group of them is shown acting rather like a middle-way between chimpanzees and humans.
391
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393
394'''Handy Hominins:''' Early ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo Homo]]''
395
396* The beginning of the ''Homo'' genus is still a mystery to paleontologists and paleoanthropologists everywhere; as is known, fossil remains of hominids have traditionally been much, much scantier compared to other big-sized fossil mammals. Earliest fossil evidence for their origin hints at a date of 2.5 million years ago. The first ''Homo''s were actually very much similar to australopithecines (which has indeed led some scientists to believe these should be classified as a separate genus), with the bigger differences being, at first glance, superficial. However, the elements that would make us humans are already well in the making. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_habilis Homo habilis]]'', the most classical early ''Homo'' (described in year 1964), shows it best: while sharing many anatomical traits with australopithecines (small overall size, ape-like skull but with human-like dentition etc.), it's skull was already beginning to show some human-like feature, in particular a slightly larger brain (620 cc in comparison to the 450 cc of earlier australopitheces). It had also more specialized hands ("''Homo habilis''" literally translates into "handy man" in Latin), and this species was enables to achieve the first of many breakthroughs that would define humanity: fabrication of stone tools. Chimpanzees can use stones to break nuts or for other purposes like self-defense, but cannot modify them into tools. These stones made by the ''H. habilis'' were still very crude, though, being mostly just broken rocks with a sharp edge. However, this also marked the beginning of a new behavioral pattern present in latter ''Homo'' species: the habit of eating more meat. For comparison, australopithecines, even of the omnivorous ''Australopithecus'' genus, mainly ate fruits, seeds, and roots, and only occasionally took animal food (insects and carrion of large mammals). Chimpanzees and bonobos have a similar alimentation, but true chimps (''Pan troglodytes'') also hunt actively small mammals occasionally.
397
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399
400'''The Upright Man travelled Far Away:''' ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_erectus Homo erectus]]''
401
402* ''Homo erectus'' (trad. "Erect man" or "Upright man") marks perhaps one of the most important breakthroughs in human evolution. This species can, with relative certainty, be called the very first true human. With an anatomical structure very similar to our own (their arms and legs now had human-like proportions and their cranial capacity bordered on 1000 cc), ''H. erectus'' was tall, lean and very agile, becoming the very first hominin to hunt big game -- ''erectus'' campsites usually contain large quantities of deer, boar, bison, rhino, hippo and elephant bones, showing that a drastic shift in diet occurred from scanvenging to active predation, and evidence suggests that they often fought against larger predators for food. They had taken the art of stone tool-making to the next level, crafting versatile and compact "handaxes" that had multiple uses, and were often sharp enough to serve as sort of prehistoric knives. ''Homo erectus'' is also the first species thought to have learned [[TheDiscoveryOfFire to use fire]], and was also for decades thought to have been the first hominin to migrate from Africa (hominins are named the African hominids because originated in Africa). While recent evidence from Dmanisi, Georgia may call this into question, it's still by far one of the most successful hominin species in our direct family tree, having evolved nearly 2 million years ago and surviving until as recently as 50 thousand years ago, spreading all across Africa, Europe, Asia and even nearly reaching Oceania.
403
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405
406'''The Java Man and the Peking Man'''
407
408* It's worth of note that ScienceMarchesOn has been a big affair about ''Homo erectus''. Its first fossil, the "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_Man Java Man]]", found in Indonesia in 1893, in the isle of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Java]] indeed, was originally called ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropopithecus Anthropopithecus erectus]]'' ("upright man-ape") and immediately after renamed ''Pithecanthropus erectus'' (literally meaning "upright ape-man"). Another found later near Beijing, China (in the Zhokouthien site to be precise) was labeled ''Sinanthropus pekinensis'' ("[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Beijing]]'s Chinese man") and nicknamed the "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peking_Man Peking Man]]" (Peking is the old version of Beijing, the capital of China). Both names are very common in old textbooks, but now are universally regarded as specimens of ''Homo erectus''. More precisely, the Java Man belongs to the subspecies ''Homo erectus erectus'', the Peking Man to ''Homo erectus pekinensis''. Several other subspecies of ''Homo erectus '' are recognized today by the palaeoanthropologists. Another alternative name (invented in the seventies, the same decade of the description of the australopith Lucy) for the African ''erectus'' has been ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_ergaster Homo ergaster]]'', lit. "the working man" -- and still there are those that prefer this name for the African fossils.
409
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411
412'''Giant Humans and Non-Humans'''
413
414* Humans these days are a very varied species, with different peoples having different skin color, eye color, height or weight, oddly in contrast with our extreme genetic uniformity compared with other mammal species. Indeed, no subspecies of ''Homo sapiens'' are recognized today, either extant or extinct (see below), unlike ''Homo erectus''. With such external variety, it's not that far a stretch to think that our ancestors had similar varieties. A possible evidence was shown by the very recent (2005) findings of ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meganthropus Meganthropus]]'' (lit. "big man") in the island of Java, Indonesia. Initially believed a sub-type of ''Homo erectus'', then an australopithecine, it has since 2019 been considered a non-hominin ape of uncertain classification, maybe related with the orangutans. Known only from skull fossils like the famous ''Gigantopithecus'', it earns well its nickname of the "Mystery Ape". ''Meganthropus'' was as tall as 7 (2.10 m) to 9 feet (2.70), making it a giant among great apes, nearly as big as the gigantopithecus itself! It probably resulted from natural selection by competing with the equally Asian ''Gigantopithecus''. [[note]]During the glaciations most of the Indonesian archipelago and the mainland Asia were united by a bridge of dryland, just like the British Isles were united with the mainland Europe at the same epoch: the sea that divides both Indonesia and Britain/Ireland from the huge eurasian landmass is shallow.[[/note]] Another example, this time really human, of gigantism among hominids would be ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_heidelbergensis Homo heidelbergensis]]'' ("man from Heidelberg", a city of Germany), a descendant from ''Homo erectus'' and very likely the common ancestor of modern humans and Neanderthals. This species in particular showed variations in height, ranging from an average human height of 6 feet (1.80 m), to being as tall as 8 feet (2.40 m).
415
416----
417
418'''Pygmy Island-Dweller:''' ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_floresiensis Homo floresiensis]]''
419
420* At the opposite end, another hominin that was also found in the 2000s: ''Homo floresiensis'' (lit. "Man of Flores") or "the Hobbit" as called colloquially. This species was most likely another descendant from ''Homo erectus'', and distinguishes itself for its incredibly small size (around 3.2 feet, merely a meter tall). This species was found mainly on an island known as "Las Flores" (lit. "the flowers" in Spanish) in Indonesia as well, an island not far away from Java but much smaller and actually closer to Australia than to the mainland Asia. Flores is also very close to the even smaller Komodo Island, where the famous "Komodo dragons" live today. ''Homo floresiensis'' is currently believed a result of ''Homo erectus'' that was stranded on the island: how they got there in the first place is still the object of much speculation. It adapted to the fauna of the island, making a case of insular dwarfism (curiously, the opposite happened to the giant monitor lizard, the "Komodo Dragon", which was subject to insular gigantism). The Flores "pygmies" lasted up to the end of the Ice Age itself, nearly 12 thousand years ago. Another species of possibly-dwarf insular human, ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_luzonensis Homo luzonensis]]'', the "Man of Luzon", was described only in 2019 in Luzon, the biggest island of the northern Philippines.
421
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423
424'''The Ice Ages Cavemen:''' the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neanderthal Neanderthals]]
425
426* Around 500,000 years ago, the descendants of ''Homo erectus'' began diversifying all across the Old World. From the branch of ''Homo heidelbergensis'', three species appear to have splintered cross the three continents. One is the famous Neanderthal (''Homo neanderthalensis''), which reigned through most of Europe, Northern Africa and Northwestern Asia for almost 200,000 years before the rise of the first modern humans (the European ones are traditionally named Cro-Magnons). Neanderthals were robustly-built, and had many adaptations to the frigid Ice Ages: for example, they were more meat-eating than the other humans (a bit like modern polar bears, obligated to be pure meat-eaters by their icy habitat devoid of green food). Like the Cro-Magnons, Neanderthals have often been depicted as rivals of the famous [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs cave bears]]. Neanderthals were surely capable of feelings and morality: there have been found many sites that show they buried and mourned their dead companions. Another species, being identified at the start of TheNewTens as distinct from the Neanderthals, is the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denisovan Denisova hominin]], originally discovered from a single tooth had been found (later discoveries added more teeth, a phalange, a partial jaw and some other fragments). However,, scientists were able to determine that it was a new species thanks to the ability to extract strands of DNA from the fossilized tooth and compare it with both Neanderthals and modern humans' genome. This newly-identified species populated mainly north-eastern Europe and the Middle East, and some speculate it may have originated on the Arabian Peninsula. They were more closely related to Neanderthals than either species was to modern humans, although all three species appear to have interbred with one another. Neanderthals declined sharply at the end of the last glaciation; the causes are disputed, but possibilities include violent displacement from modern humans, an inability to adapt to the extinction of megafauna -- our ancestors, being more omnivirous, would have been better able to shift to small game and foraging -- inbreeding depression due to tending to have smaller and more isolated populations, and absorption into modern humanity through interbreeding. Mulitple causes were likely in play concurrently. The extinction of the Denisovans is less well understood, since so few remains have been found, but was likely a similar affair.
427
428----
429
430'''The European Savants:''' the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_European_modern_humans Cro-Magnons]]
431
432* Last, but not least, our species (originally called ''Homo sapiens sapiens'' because the Neanderthal and others were believed [[ScienceMarchesOn its subspecies]]: ex. ''H. sapiens neanderthalensis'') began evolving from ''Homo heidelbergensis'' at around 300,000 years ago or so, developing what scientists refer to as "Archaic Homo Sapiens", that is, hominins well in the line of modern humans, but don't quite resemble modern humans just yet, with notable examples being the Florisband and Gawis craniums, which show notable transitional elements into ''Homo sapiens'' ("sapiens" = "one who knows, wise, savant"). Cro-Magnons lived alongside the Neanderthals and Denisovans in Pleistocenic Europe and Asia, had also feelings and morality, but they made steps further: articulated language, artistic sense (paintings in caves and little stony statues), and complex weapons and tools. Their descendants invented farming, agriculture, the first villages and towns, and finally writing, starting the recorded history about 4,000 years ago. ''Homo sapiens'' is the only species of ''Homo'' who managed to reach the Americas and Oceania -- both before the recorded history. The size of the brain of both Neanderthals and archaic ''Homo sapiens'' was equal to ours, and in some Neanderthals was even bigger: up to 1,800 cc! Modern humans have a brain size that spans between 1,000 and 1,400 cc.
433
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435
436[[/folder]]
437

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