Bone Crusher

The paleontologist has found the jawbone of Borophagus, an ancestor of the hyenas and wild dogs that lived for millions of years in Texas and other parts of North America. It was a carnivore and a big one. It may have resembled a hyena with a massive head.

It probably lived like a hyena, too. Fossil bones found in many excavations show the tooth marks of Borophagus. It appears that Borophagus crushed the bones of animals and ate the nutritious marrow inside them. Its diet probably included the bones of Stegomastodon (an extinct cousin of the elephants), Nannipus (deer-like relatives of the modern horse), and North American rhinoceroses. Like modern-day hyenas, Borophagus was a scavenger. Ancestors of the saber-toothed cats captured the prey; Borophagus feasted on the carcass.