North America used to have its very own hyena

Published October 3, 2016 This content is archived.

An article in Smithsonian magazine about the existence of hyenas in North America sometime between 3 million and 1.5 million years ago quotes Zhijie Jack Tseng, assistant professor of pathology and anatomical sciences in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Chasmaporthetes had proportions more like a wolf, “with relatively elongated foot bones indicative of increased running capability compared to spotted hyenas,” said Tseng, an expert on fossil carnivores.