The giant hyaena, Pachycrocuta brevirostris (Mammalia, Carnivora, Hyaenidae)

Abstract

The giant hyaena, Pachycrocuta brevirostris, is known from deposits in Africa and Eurasia between ca. 3.0 and 0.5 Ma. It is the largest of the true hyaenas, but that size is not reflected in overall shoulder height since the distal limb segments are relatively shorter than those of living taxa. Its bodily proportions therefore appear to be suited to power and strength rather than speed. Its eventual extinction is part of the overall evolution in large carnivore guilds throughout the world and may have been closely linked to the extinction of machairodont cats.