| Canid jaw material from the upper Miocene portion of the late middle through late Pliocene Mehrten Formation. These specimens are roughly 6 million years old. I modified the image from a freely available photograph, which unfortunately provided no identifying information. Bar scale is presumably one centimeter. Is is well established by vertebrate paleontologists, though, that as presently understood (2018) the Mehrten Formation yields four species of canids: two borophagines--the famous bone-crackers Borophagus parvus and B. secundus of probable hyena-like dietary behavior--and two canines (related to modern dogs--Eucyon davisi and Vulpes stenognathus). Photograph courtesy a specific scientific document. |