There’s a new king in town — if the town you’re talking about is the Egyptian jungle 30 million years ago.
Paleontologists unearthed a nearly complete skull of an apex predator, which likely hunted early versions of primates, hippos, and elephants in what is now a desert. The skull included sharp teeth and signs of powerful jaw muscles. The scientists described it as having a hypercarniverous diet in recent study published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
"It’s just gorgeous," says Matthew Borths, a curator at the Duke Lemur Center Museum of Natural History and a co-author of the paper. "It’s the most complete cranium of an apex carnivore from this part of the Fayum. It’s not crushed. It’s just so pretty. I also immediately realized it had huge jaw muscles for a very powerful chomp."
The leopard-like animal skull was found in the Fayum Depression. Paleontologists digging in that area have so far unearthed fossils covering about 15 million years of mammalian evolution.
Learning About a New Predator
The team, who go by the name Sallam Lab, were conducting a general dig, working on rocks dating back 30 million years, when one member spotted a large set of teeth protruding from the ground.
“His excited shout brought the team together, marking the beginning of an extraordinary discovery: a nearly complete skull of an ancient apex carnivore, a dream for any vertebrate paleontologist,” lead author Shorouq Al-Ashqar, from Mansoura University and the American University in Cairo, said in a press release.
Read More: 5 Ancient Animals That Stood The Test Of Time
Nodding to Ancient Egypt
The team named the specimen Bastetodon, after the cat-headed ancient Egyptian goddess Bastet. The name gives nods to two sources. The first half of the name recognizes the region, which has produced many Ancient Egyptian artifacts. The suffix '-odon” means “tooth” and refers, of course to the big cat’s carnivorous nature.
Bastetodon fits within a category of carnivorous mammals known as hyaenodonts. This group evolved long before contemporary carnivores like cats, dogs, and hyenas. They hunted with their hyena-like teeth after the dinosaurs went extinct.
The find has also triggered the team to re-evaluate another group of hyaenodonts. Researchers found fossils of these lion-sized creatures in the same area about 120 years ago.
In their paper, the team coined the genus Sekhmetops to describe those old bones and to pay homage to Sekhmet, the lion-headed goddess of Egyptian mythology (“-ops” means “face”). The team that first found, Sekhmetops in 1904 categorized it as belonging with a group of European hyaenodonts. The current team showed that similarities between Bastetodon and Sekhmetops placed them both in a group of hyaenodonts that originated in Africa.
"Bastetodon and Sekhmetops were roaming the same forests as our monkey-like ancestors (and probably thought our great great great uncles and aunts were pretty tasty)," says Borths. "Even though Bastetodon is not a direct relative of ours, it is part of our evolutionary story."
Read More: 6 Ancient Mega-Predators that Once Ruled the World
Out of Africa
The paper details how relatives of those two creatures spread in waves to Asia, Europe, India, and North America. Over time, the group’s relatives became some of the largest meat-eating mammals on the planet.
Eventually climate and tectonic changes helped introduce relatives of modern cats, dogs, and hyenas. Over time, hyaenodonts diversity diminished until the genus reached extinction and they only existed as fossils.
For animals, it may be good to be king. For paleontologists, it may be better to unearth an ancient one.
Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Cranial anatomy of the hypercarnivore Bastetodon syrtos gen. nov. (Hyaenodonta, Hyainailourinae) and a reevaluation of Pterodon in Africa
Before joining Discover Magazine, Paul Smaglik spent over 20 years as a science journalist, specializing in U.S. life science policy and global scientific career issues. He began his career in newspapers, but switched to scientific magazines. His work has appeared in publications including Science News, Science, Nature, and Scientific American.
