“Andrews' Ruler”
Species: Andrewsarchus mongoliensis
Time Period: Eocene (55-37 MYA)
| Made famous by the recent Discovery Channel/BBC Series, "Walking with Prehistoric Beasts", the giant Mesonychid Andrewsarchus is in truth known only from only one specimen: a skull missing the lower jaws housed at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, New York. Several casts of this specimen are located at museums throughout the world. |
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The specimen was discovered by and named after Roy Chapman Andrews in June of 1923 on a site in the Gobi Desert known as Irdin Mahna in Mongolia during an Asian expedition sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History. It was classified in the Mesonychidae due to the similarity in structure between its teeth and those of known Mesonychid specimens, so it is assumed Andrewsarchus had hoofed toes similar to those of Mesonyx.
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The most striking feature about Andrewsarchus is it's immense size. The skull is nearly three feet long and about two feet wide. It may have been as large as twelve feet at the shoulder, depending on how the skeleton was shaped. Andrewsarchus was the largest mammalian land carnivore ever to live, possibly twice the size of an Alaskan brown bear (grizzly bear). |
The skull of Andrewsarchus shares many similarities with extinct whales, such as Basilosaurus. Comparing the skulls of both mammals shows similar dentition and skull shape, as well as immense size. Were it not for the fact the specimen was found in association with dry Eocene riverbeds, it might have been a possibility that the absent skeleton was more whale-like in structure than wolf or bear-like. However, the possibility of Andrewsarchus hunting or scavenging in or near ancient rivers has not been completely ruled out.
Sources: "Vertebrate
Paleontology, Third Edition" Michael J. Benton. Blackwell Publishing,
Malden MA. 2005
"Beasts of Eden" David Rains Wallace. University of California Press,
Los Angeles and Berkeley CA. 2004
"Horns, Tusks and Flippers: The Evolution of Hoofed Mammals" Donald R.
Prothero & Robert M Schoch. The John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD.
2002
