Fossil Discovery in Tanzania Reveals Ancient Bobcat-Sized Carnivore

“This new carnivore, discovered in Tanzania sediment deposits dating from 25 million years ago, provides new information about the transition of carnivores in older ecosystem types to carnivores in today’s African ecosystems,” says Judy Skog, program director in NSF’s Division of Earth Sciences, which funded the research.

Credit: Matthew BorthsThe new hyaenodont species was discovered in the same 25 million-year-old rocks as the oldest fossil evidence of the split between Old World monkeys and apes. At that time, the ecosystem was undergoing dramatic climate and tectonic upheavals as Africa collided with Eurasia and the modern East African Rift System formed.

The fossil gives paleontologists a glimpse of hyaenodont anatomy before modern carnivores invaded the continent, revealing that Pakakali was about the size of a bobcat.

Based on the findings of the study, hyaenodonts may have been pushed to become more specialized meat-eaters due to competition from other species. That dietary specialization may have made hyaenodonts more vulnerable to extinction in the changing African ecosystem by leaving them with fewer food choices.

Pakakali was discovered by an international team of scientists from the United States, Australia and Tanzania as part of the Rukwa Rift Basin Project (RRBP), an interdisciplinary collaboration examining the development of the modern African ecosystem. In more than a decade of exploration, RRBP researchers have described the habitat Pakakali called home along with many other animals that occupied the ecosystem.

“The environment containing Pakakali reveals a fascinating window into extinction,” says Nancy Stevens, co-author of the study and a paleontologist at Ohio University. “It highlights the vulnerability of carnivorous species to rapid environmental change, a topic we are grappling with on the African continent today.”

 Contacts and sources:
Cheryl Dybas