Beardog Teeth

The Miocene Amphicyonids of Florida, called beardogs, are neither true bears nor dogs; they show characteristics of hyenas, wolves and bears, but generally are somewhat closest to bears. The group's scientific name means "in-between dog."   Some of them were as large as grizzly bears, and were built like modern bears, while others were small and more similar to dogs.  The Amphicyon longiramus was a very large, ferocious beast, larger than a Dire wolf, and was the dominant and most powerful carnivore during its heyday which in north Florida was the late early Miocene.  It had a large head but a relatively small brain, and heavy, powerful limbs not suited to running long distances.  It likely stalked its prey instead of running it down as did the short faced bears.   One can speculate that the beardogs thrived on the abundant and various three toed horses which were so prevalent during the Miocene and indeed, many of the horse fossils from that era bear evidence of carnivore tooth marks, attesting to their unfortunate end.

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