Archaeotherium
| Archaeotherium Fossil range: Early Oligocene to Early Miocene |
||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Archaeotherium mortoni
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||
|
Archaeotherium (Greek, "Ancient Beast") is an extinct genus of forest-dwelling entelodont artiodactyl found in North Dakota. It was a relative of pigs, but is not considered a true pig.
In life, Archaeotherium would have resembled a fanged warthog with an unusually large head. As with other entelodonts, it is regarded as an omnivorous scavenger. Their strong neck muscles suggest that these animals spent most of their time rooting and grubbing in the ground, sniffing out tubers and fungi, not unlike modern-day wild pigs. They probably died out when their forests dried out and the great grasslands began to spread.
Most species were slightly larger than warthogs, though, the largest species, A. mortoni, approached the size of a cow.
Their fossils were first described by Joseph Leidy in 1850.
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
