Amphicyonids: The Bear Dogs
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- Опубликовано: 14 окт 2024
- The Amphicyonids, more commonly known as the Bear Dogs, were an early evolving and successful group of Caniform Carnivorans. First appearing in North America during the Middle Eocene roughly 43 million years ago, these animals were the most basal of all Caniforms and were not direct ancestors of either dogs or bears. The oldest forms were small and generalized, resembling modern civets and genets, but quickly developed into superficially dog-like ambush predators. With long heavy tails, relatively short limbs and muscular builds, Amphicyonids were not pursuit hunters but were more similar to modern lions and tigers in stalking and ambushing prey.
Many species were wolf-sized, while the late surviving Amphicyon could reach the size of a large bear and was among the apex predators of Eurasia and North America. Most members of the family were hypercarnivores, with many of the smaller forms dying out by the Middle Miocene. This may have been due to competition with Canids, especially in North America. Amphicyon survived longer, dying out by the Late Pliocene in Pakistan about 2.6 mya. Eventually, the spread of more open grasslands combined with a lack of cursorial adaptations may have doomed these previously successful predators, losing ground to large Felids and Canids.
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The Bear dogs are absolutely fascinating, I am so glad they are getting a bit more attention on media.
Same.
I'm still waiting for a documentary explaining the evolutionary background of 'man bear pig'. Lol jk. Fascinating video though. *South Park reference
@@jayklink851 we'll the South Park reference alone should be enough
I love all of the dinosaurs ❤, and I really appreciate these videos 😅
@@ronaldmessina4229 just dinosaurs are all prehistoric animals?
Imagine of these things were still alive today. I wonder how other modern species would fair in competition with this bear dog.
Rather poorly. The canids outclass them in speed while ursids outclass them by weight.
Exactly. As successful as they were in the Oligocene and Miocene, their Jack of all trades body plan led to a decline once more specialised Canids and Ursids appeared.
Interestingly, the rule tends to be that bigger and more specialised species are more prone to extinction. The first representatives of all these spectacular lineages are invariably raccoon to fox sized generalists because these are the species that inherit the earth after the specialist species go extinct.
@@horsebattery There are two complimentary ways how lineages change: When the environment remains stable over millions of years, more specialized species evolve, among them the big spectacular ones which we tend to focus on in the fossil record. The multitude of specialized species as a whole exploits the available resources more efficiently than a few generalized species could. But when the environment changes, the most specialized species are the first to die out, while some of the generalists survive and start a new round of specialization and adaption to the new environment.
@@dr.polaris6423
This really isn’t true, at least not regarding canids. Amphicyonids began their terminal decline BEFORE dogs dedicated to hunting large prey became a thing.
I don't know if an Amphicyon could run as fast as a bear, but seeing one of those units hauling ass after something must've been terrifying.
They do have thick frontleg muscle so, imagine the slapping force..
@@nanoquadrate Oh, if it was anything like a bear, it would probably be capable of, literally, knocking a person's head off their shoulders.
Amphicyon was actually faster than bears, though slower than specialized pursuit predators like wolves.
@@bkjeong4302 Bears are faster than wolves running up to 38 to 40 mph. About as fast as a horse.
@@hainleysimpson1507 Bear speeds are often highly exaggerated in secondary sources. They're fast but not THAT fast.
Amphysions seemed like an interesting example of convergent evolution to fill the same niches as modern carnivores before these were actually around.
However, they do raise an interesting question. Has anybody ever wondered why there were no obligate dinosaurian carnivorous quadrupeds and no bipedal mammalian hunters (prior to humans, that is)? What differential pressures or biological constraints existed that made one body shape viable for one but not for the other.
That is a very interesting question!
I have wondered that too!
Incredibly interesting question!!! I might actually make a video on that very question myself!!
Especially when considering the success of carniverous quadropedal crocodilimorphs, and in other groups during The Permian.
May or may not have something to do with the fact that most mammalian herbivores generally favors speed as a form defenses which likely forces the carnivores to stick to being quadruped to better catch up with them.
Dunno about the theropods though, but it seems like it's a combination of them being stuck in their biped form and lack of pressures to regress back into that form of locomotion since later forms like tyrannosaurids and abelisaurids had highly reduced forelimbs and the maniraptorans repurposed them into wings instead.
It's incredible how alien yet familiar something can appear, and these creatures are no different! Brilliant video highlighting some of the most wonderfully underrepresented groups of carnivora!
I used to look at these animals and think " what a nightmare it would be to meet one of these things". Thanks for making this. you are the only one I know who covered this topic.
A fluffy nightmare... 🥺👉👈💓
@@nanoquadrate I'd die trying to pet them
Imagine how the surprised a burglar would be having two of these units come barreling towards said burglar from behind a thick grove of spruce trees.
I’d love to see a video on the first cynodonts. I find them so fascinating especially for their place in natural history. If all of them had gone extinct, we would not be here and neither would these amazing creatures.
A new Dr. Polaris video?! Now this made my morning.
This is all quite neat. I wonder if you should do a companion video about the Hemicyonidae, the Dog Bears. I am amused that the bear dogs and the dog bears are two distinct groups.
I like to think of it like that mermaid visual gag, where it is the upper body of a fish and the lower body of a woman.
Dog-bears are family or subfamily of bears. While the bear-dogs are an out group of caniform Carnivora. The two groups are relatively closely related
@@indyreno2933 pero es obvio que están emparentados con los perros y los osos
Another excellent presentation by our dear Bear Doc. 😎
I love the human-for-scale models. I don't know why they make me smile.
These things deserve more representation in media
Mustelids are my favorite group type. They are just so interesting. Hyenas are really unique, I've always been curious about, are hyenas more dogs, then anything else? They are just such a unique species of animal. Then Feline's, Bear's, then Canine's are probably the order I would rank them into which species I'm most interested in learning about all types and forms over time. In the Mammal group. It's so cool to learn what existed in the prehistoric era's. It's mind boggling.
Hyenas are actually more related to cats and civets than dogs. civets look like small hyenas in my opinion.
Humans are probably the most unique animal/mammal in multiple ways. Although learning about humans' unnecessary weaknesses is bit depressing. On the positive side, future humans would probably not have them.
@@Minish4rk360 big time. hyena's are pretty much a giant hybrid of civets and mongoose😅. such interesting and over hated families on the planet. when you really get to know all the species you find out how interesting they are.
@@Minish4rk360 y los osos estan emparentados con los perros
@@UniDocs_Mahapushpa_Cyavana how is that positive? Then nothing could stop us from destroying all non-human species. We need more weaknesses, not fewer.
These extinct creatures are indeed very interesting! You did justice covering them on your channel!
Whenever one sees the word "cyon" in a scientific name you know that somewhere lurks a dog or that something is doglike.Raccoons scientifically are called "procyon" which means "before the dog" -because I think they are about one stage from being dogs.It is the Greek equivalent of the Latin "canis" from which we get "canines" etc.
Its sad that we cant See these amazing beasts in Action anymore.. a polar bear sized Wolf that thing would have given chills when faced in the wild 1 on 1
Hello to my favorite ursine doctor! Thank you for yet another fascinating look into our planet's prehistory. I found this video particularly interesting because of the uncanny resemblance between descriptions of the amphysions and the eyewitness reports and native legends surrounding the awe-inspiring "waheela" (sp?) of northwestern Canada and Alaska.
Predominately sighted in and around the Nahani Valley, but as far afield as the Alaskan tundra, the waheela is said to be a carnivorous quadruped of huge dimensions, with a build nearly as robust as a polar bear, but with a morphology similar to a wolf. The head is wolf or dog-like, with short ears and a long snout, although much wider and thicker than any known dog alive. Its body is broad, with somewhat short limbs, huge paws, and a much larger tail than a normal wolf. It's tail is said to be almost kangaroo-like. As high at the shoulder as a horse, this animal is feared and respected throughout its range, and has been seen and documented in modern times.
Forgive me is all of that is completely old-hat to you, (which it almost certainly is) but when I watched your video on the Amphysions, I couldn't help thinking that here we have the perfect candidate for the ancestors of the modern waheela! Personally I always lean toward believing the testimony of the native people of an area, whose survival has depended on their knowing every animal and plant in their living space accurately, and whose ancestors have been there for eons. If the natives swear the the waheela is a rare but dangerous predator to keep an eye out for, then I believe them. Furthermore several non-native residents and visitors of and to the lands of the waheela have returned with tales of these impressive beasts.
The most exciting thing about the fossil record to me is that it tends to furnish so many explanations for the identities of living cryptids today. Who doesn't love a cryptid, I ask you?!
Best wishes, sincerely,
Naomi
Great video as always. When I first heard of beardogs I just assumed they were the common ancestor of bears and dogs. To be young and ignorant of the fossil record
The Amphicyonids are awesome predators!
Bears, Dogs, Bear dogs, dog bears oh my
Haha yes it does get a bit confusing at times.
Very nice! Well done and informative. Thank you.
Dr. Polariiiis,m thank you for covering this BearDoggy (Boggy), i love this species so much yet they're so underrated hhhhh
especially in the furry fandom.
It's interesting to note that, with just a couple of exceptions, all the pictures show the amphicyonids with dog-like digitigrade feet!
That aside, its nice to have something on a group of carnivorous animals that you may hear about, but not have much more than that. Certainly, with the Larger genera and species, its easy to see why they get their colloquial name of 'bear-dog'. Some of them really do appear to be a hybrid of bear and dog.
they do often get confused with the lesser talked about dog bears. wich is understandable and totaly hillarious. we really need to stop naming animals by what they look like😂😂. it confuses so many people. like with bearcats and electric eels.
Tbh I think they look more like mustelids, with the tails and long bodies of otters and the heavy jaws with small ears of a badger.
@@theflyingdutchguy9870 los osos no son nada gatos, son más perros que gatos
Seems like a hybrid of Canids and Bear
Love the intro theme. Crash Bandicoot: Wrath of Cortex, Artic Antics. 💯
imagine a parallel universe where humans domesticated these instead of gray wolves
oh wait
chow chows
So fascinating that on paper, carnivores like these would still be insanely successful. And perhaps in the future, something like them may arise again. Perhaps from the mustelid side of the caniform tree. Could make for a good spec evo project.
In my speculative evolution project, mustelids do evolve into similar forms to bear dogs, among other animals.
@@beastmaster0934 Interesting
Another great video from Dr. Polaris. Thank you, this made my week much better and interesting!
Are you going to cover the bone crushing dogs?
I will do eventually yes.
@@dr.polaris6423 Thank you, i'm happily looking forward for that 🍖🐶
I love ur channel since long ago.. Keep it up👌🌷
First-time viewer fascinating video your comment section blows me away
Always cool Learning About All Kinds Of critters ❤❤❤
Now that you have covered the amphicyonids, how about a video about the Ursidae subfamily in the future. The flipped named “dog bears”, Hemicyoninae.
Ursidae is a family, not a subfamily.
Werewolfs of north America?
So glad this channel has taken off for you.
For some future video, you could bring up the opposite of the bear dogs: the dog bears (hemicyoninae)
Edit: *hemicyonidae
That’s a good idea. I’ll keep that in mind.
How big was amphicyon lydekkeri ?
By the way he was not the only remaining amphicyonid remaining in South Africa there are remains of a coyote size species in late Pliocene
Ah interesting, I didn’t come across that in my research. I believe A. lydekkeri was about the size of a lion.
Thank you for pronouncing merychippus correctly.
I've heard pronunciation based on the animal being merry and chipper all the time.
It is related to Merrychipandaleodonts...
🤭🤭🤭
The bear dogs sure were some awesome carnivoria and I love it
It would be amazing if there was a domestic breed of bear dogs they'd be so cute
And we call them "Boggy" (bear doggy) 🥰🥰🥰
Wow amazing video can you do a video on titanoboa?
this kinda made the constellation Ursa Major make more sense, since its traditionally drawn with a long tail, perhaps this critter is what inspired the linking of extra stars. even tho ursa major was mapped around 3000bc and named by ptolemy, still makes me think
This is such a cool animal, holy cow!
I've never seen anything about it before..
WOW!
Nobody ever saw them.....
I love beardogs! They are very interesting group of carnivoran mammals. I am curious if we discover members of this clade that convergently evolved into sloth bear's or short-faced bear's niches.
I would love it if the Beast of Gevaudan was one of these..
So when you do cryptids again, may you please do the Mothman, Big Foot, the Yeti, and the Loch Ness Monster?
Now that's the dog who can terrorize even big cats.
Kind of weird to think of canines and bears as being the specialised ones in any context. They are the most generalist generalists to ever generalist.
For real on the bears like, what are they exactly specializing in? The plants? Or is it the meat and fish? Maybe the insects? Is it the trash?
Can see everything from bear to lion to wolverine to wolf in these animals. Could name it any combination of the names. I like Lion Wolf or Wolf Lion.
What about "wolferines?"
Leocyon
Do you play World of Warcraft music in the background? I hear the "Going Hozen" song.
Correct me if I’m wrong. Weren’t some bear-dogs both plantigrade and digitigrade, with some species having plantigrade from limbs and digitigrade hind limbs? I have also read that some of the large bear-dogs like crippled prey by striking them with powerful front limbs. Large bears sometimes cripple or outright kill ungulates with paw strikes to head, neck, hips, or back.
Yeah most of the smaller ones were digitigrade, while the larger ones were plantigrade.
What genus is the 65 kg Alexandra? In what era did the Alexandra exist in order to evolve the particular camoflauge pattern on the legs. My guess would be the plasticine but that is, at best, a poor guess. Cheers.
I wonder if future predators could be like this?
That would be crazy if wolverines or honeybadgers became the next apex predators evolving into bear sized hypercarnivores
If the nuclear war & human/dog overhunting mass extinction doesn't occur, probably.
@@akiraasmr3002 Kind of hard to dislodge those two's dominance.
@@akiraasmr3002 that's basically what these types of creatures are
I wonder how did the competition with the enormous varieties of miocene hyenas went. It's crazy to see the enormous variety of miocene hyenas and hyena-like animals, like dinocrocuta and pachycrocuta, and imagine the competition with the enormous variety of bear-dogs.
Does "basal" replace "primative"?
what I find interesting is that they show these ancestral carnivores as having stripes and spots, and yet they are basal ancestors to conforms which for the most part had uniform or bicolored coats. stripes and spots are seen more from felines.
Thank You!
Dr. Polaris do you think bear dogs could survive in places like India, Asia or current day Africa even South America? Basically places they weren't known to populate when they were around? I only ask because I favor them over the large carnivores their 1v1 although that doesn't actually have anything to do with survival.
If these mega mammals continued to exist alongside humans we’d have a lot more competition and even predators hunting us.
They're basically the big cat version of cannids, except they couldn't land on their feet like cats, could've been why they were out competed.
That made them even more adorable tbh...
That’s a good way of putting it!
Amphicyonids coexisted with cats and other catlike carnivorans for a fair bit and began declining before big-game-hunting canids became a thing. The idea they were outcompeted is yet another of those memetic ideas about how living animals are “superior” at existing and outcompeted older lineages.
@@bkjeong4302 elaborate further. Or send me links supporting your idea. Not against it, just curious if it's true or not.
@@muhammadeisa1459
Cats first became large (leopard-sized) predators during the Early Miocene with things like the larger species of Pseudaelurus, at around the same time the amphicyonine amphicyonids were also moving into the ambush predator niche (both in Eurasia). Cats also moved into North America at the same time amphicyonine amphicyonids did, with Hyperailurictis, a leopard/puma-sized animal, being the first cat in North America. In other words, amphicyonine amphicyonids had been coexisting with felid competition pretty much from right when they became apex predators. And amphicyonids also managed to do well in Africa, where they faced competition from the catlike barbourofelids, which also spread into Eurasia (they eventually made it to North America). Yet they managed to do well in spite of the competition.
As for canids, they were mostly restricted to omnivorous or small-predator niches, and also restricted to North America, until the Late Miocene. It's not until after amphicyonids disappeared from North America and entered decline everywhere else that you get things like the big bone-crushing borophagines (and since large cats were still in North America at this point, the idea borophagines were outcompeted by cats is also false-they had to have been able to compete successfully with cats to even evolve into large predators in the first place)
Excellent
What were the youngest amphicyonids found in North America?
Because I often wonder if these carnivorans (along with the Borophagines) were around to see Titanis, or possibly traveled to South America during the interchange.
As far I’m aware, the group died out in North America roughly 13 million years ago.
The last borophagine (Borophagus) did coexist with Titanis, as Titanis entered North America in the Early Pliocene.
Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and see these animals for myself! We call it a bear dog but they were about as closely related to bears or dogs as they were to foxes at best! This means that anybody that lived with these animals (especially the saber toothed tiger!) would have NOT thought of them as we do today as bears, dogs, or tigers, but as their very own type of creature that we would've had its own name and spiritual significance for!
Time travellers in for a bad day if they land near one of these
How about a REALLY bad day if someone time traveled and wound up near a Mother one of these Bear-Wolf - looks -a -lot -like -a -giant -Wolverine -Things with " Cubs " or "Puppies" or whatever the babies of these Things would be called? Now THAT would be a REALLY bad time!
@@michaeltheoret3842 they’d be an exotic family lunch 😂
I have never in my life been so fucking bewildered by all these words i have never heard before. I understood NONE of this video lol. But i did like all the pictures
Is the intro music from crash bandicoot?
If dangerous ambush predators, then why friend-shaped and fluffy?
Because : Well the better to EAT You then. If something looks absolutely hideous and it's THAT big ,Its ugliness would scare off Its meal . Imagine being SO ugly that You'd have to sneak up on that plant or dead animal just to eat it ? Thankfully nothing is THAT ugly I guess.
Is there any reason to suggest Bear Dogs would not have been domesticable in ideal circumstances?
Would their generally smaller brains to Canids and Felids make it more or less likely they would resist domestication?
Grizzly Bears don't ambush hunt. The have incredible endurance and are very fast, reaching up to 40 kph, capable of very long sustained sprints, running their prey to exhaustion, similar to how wolves and Hyenas do.
I live in western Canada, home to the largest Grizzly Bears lol
Thx doctor.
Now THAT is something about beardogs, as that explains why wild canids and ursids still prey on hoofed mammals, even in our modern age to this very day!
What explains it?
Sooo...amphicyonids was the equivalent of great cats? At some point the great dogs existed afterall?
This is ancestor from before bear and wolf split into canid and ursus? Or just bear with similar features as wolf?
These are not ancestral to either.
@@Dr.Ian-Plect are their ancestors is the miacid?
@@mhdfrb9971 Yes, miacids are ancestral to caniforms.
good show
9:57 I wonder why it survived there the longest and not anywhere else?
I’m not sure and I don’t think this have ever been fully explained. Perhaps the environment of Pliocene Pakistan was more suitable for Amphicyon than elsewhere?
Truly impressive beasts!
Can someone tell what is the name of theme music of the video?
This would make a great pet pooch
You want to go on a weekend camping trip in that era.
still waiting on that next alter earth episode
Having seen how friendly some bears can be, it would be so fascinating if bioengineers recreated bear-dogs for domestication
It's strange to think that relatively quiet/boring region of the modern US and Canada had at one time an ecosystem that made the African Serengeti look like a petting zoo.
Grizzly’s wolfs and mountain lions are pretty elite when compared to Europe or even Australias land animals
6:27 the real Bear Dog aka Cyon
Yo DP keep up the good work momma 🌞
The fearsome Bog if you will
So where do the dog bears fit in here?
Hey Dr. Polaris! I've always loved your content! Do you have discord? My friend Scan has a server for paleotubers and just general paleo enthusiasts and Edge is in our server and has been for awhile. If you wanted to join let me know :)
Cool
Turn on captioning for this video. You will be entertained
Amphicyonids are one of the many reasons why I think more furrys should be paleo artists.
how about doing both? (i already drew furry Amphicyon version of arthurian knight btw)
One of you furries should draw and make hyaenadon furries also oxyaenidae and mesonychid furries would be great and other furries would be interested prob thinking you made these creatures up lol
@@akiraasmr3002 Paleontology x Furries is the crossover I didn't know I needed
Doctor Polaris i like your British accent
Thanks, it's not the stereotypical Bri'ish type accent!
Haha I want a puppy/cub beardog so bad !
My Rottweiler name was Bearbutt. Lol with his lil tail .. Next time u see a Rottweiler call him bearbutt forme
Yogi & Bearbutt
Me too! Beardog is basically my ideal pet/slightly more furry family member.
If These Were Alive Who’d Win : Bear Vs Bear Dog : Lion Vs Bear Dog : Wolf Vs Bear Dog :
Polar vs bear dog is fair fight. Cave lion is nedded modern ones are too small.
I have one of these at my house, her name is Maggie and she's a fucking huge chocolate lab
Very innopriate language 😢
everyone always talks about bear dogs but nobody talks about dog bears
Tragic
More alter earth content when?
I feel the Amphicyons would beat a Lion or Tiger in a 1v1 fight if they were alive today
@AL No Smilodon, Machairodus lahayishupup and the American Lion may have a chance against Amphicyon but I feel that the Smilodons teeth would break in the fight while giving fatal injuries while itself sustaining fatal injuries
@AL Which bear dog are you referring to? Xenosmilus had a powerful bite because of a longer temporal muscle than Homotherium (which also used a clamp and hold bite like lions) and it's bite was no joke. It's fangs were shorter but much stronger than smilodon plus it's battery of incisors could inflict terrible damage much like a shark. It was immensely powerfully built and built for grappling and with a upper weight limit of 800-900 lbs, no joke. Neither was smilodon populator. Sure it's bite was weaker but it's limbs and claws were built for grappling too. They would been more than a match for any bear dog in the 1000 lb range but certainly not 1500 lbs. Besides, top predators would avoid each other when possible. It would be a pyrrhic victory for either.
Seemed more of a tiger dog or lion dog than bear dog
If I didn't know better I'd have said that the Bear Dog was the bastard offspring of Grizzly Bear and a Wolf.
Here Boy ... Fetch.. .