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PERCROCUTA
(per-cro-cu-tah)
meaning: "Thorough hyena"
Named By: Miklos Kretzoi in 1938
Time Period: Middle Miocene-Late Miocene
Location: Across Africa and Asia with countries including Algeria, China, Ethiopia, Libya, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkey
Size: Around 1.5 meters long
Diet: Carnivore
Fossil(s): Multiple specimens though often of partial remains
Classification: | Chordata | Mammalia | Carnivora | Percrocutidae |
About

Percrocuta is an extinct genus of hyena-like feliform carnivores. It lived in Europe, Asia, and Africa, during the Miocene epoch.

With a maximum length of 1.50 m (5 ft), Percrocuta was much bigger than its modern relatives, but smaller than a female lion. Like the spotted hyena, Percrocuta had a robust skull and powerful jaws. Similar to modern hyenids, its hind legs were shorter than the front legs, resulting in a characteristic sloping back.

Percrocuta was introduced as a genus of Percrocutidae in 1938. Percrocuta's relation to the family Hyaenidae was debated until 1985, when Percrocuta, Dinocrocuta, Belbus, and Allohyaena were accepted as the four genera of Percrocutidae.

Read more about Percrocuta at Wikipedia
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