Daeodon

Daeodon (Daeodon Cope, 1879)

Order: Artiodactyla

Family: Entelodontidae

Temporal range: during the  Early Miocene (North America) - 23—18 million years ago.

Dimensions: length - 3 m, height - 210 сm, weight ~ 1000 kg

A typical representative:  Daeodon shoshonensis Cope, 1879

Daeodon, one of the largest, if not the largest, entelodont artiodactyls, lived 25-18 million years ago in North America. The 3 m long, about 1.8 m at the shoulder, 90 cm long skulled, 600 - 1000 kg mass animal strongly resembled a giant, monstrous pig or warthog, possessing huge jaws with prominent tusks and flaring cheekbones. It possibly was a huge, bone-crushing scavenger and predator, found at Agate Springs Quarry. It had long skull bones under its eyes and bony protrusions on the lower jaw, not dissimilar to the 'warts' of the warthog, which may have supported jaw muscles. The well-known genus Dinohyus ("terrible pig") has now been synonymized with Daeodon, as the latter is the earlier name, having priority.