 |
|
@5 MYA - @1.5 MYA
SPECIES:
Dinofelis abeli, Dinofelis diastemata, Dinofelis paleoonca, Dinofelis barlowi, Dinofelis piveteaui
MUSEUMS DISPLAYING SPECIMENS:
SOUTH AFRICA
The Transvaal Museum in Pretoria: skulls
The South African Museum in Cape Town: series of mandibles
Dinofelis was a genus of cat about the size of a large leopard or small lion. Dinofelis was built like a jaguar with thick forelimbs. It couldn't chase prey, but more likely would grab hold of it's prey like a jaguar. Dinofelis is known from Eurasia, Africa, And North America. Dinofelis is sometimes referred to as a 'false saber-tooth', based on it's tooth shape which is somewhere between that of modern species and the true saber-tooths like Smilodon.
Sources:
1. The Big Cats and Their Fossil Relatives. Alan Turner. University of Columbia Press, New York. 1997.
Because of it's build, it is likely that Dinofelis lived in densely forested areas. Here is would be able to pounce on prey without a chase because it would have ample cover while stalking. A forested environment would also mean Dinofelis probably had a striped or spotted coat like a tiger or jaguar as camouflage. Dinofelis may have also had a dark coat as camouflage. This might explain the higher occurrence of melanism in leopards and jaguars that other big cats.
Another interesting note about Dinofelis is that samples have been found in the South African site of Kromdraii. This site has also yielded a large sample or our own ancestors, the Australopithecines. It is likely therefore that this cat was a predator of our own ancestors, and perhaps one reason hominids over time began living in the savannas. This might have been a behavioral change that allowed our ancestors to better avoid predators. An animal with sharp eyesight such as a hominid would probably better be able to see a predator hiding in the grass of a savanna than one prowling through dense forests.