Andrewsarchus

Andrewsarchus
	An artist's illustration of Andrewsarchus mongoliensis
	A cast of the only known skull of Andrewsarchus mongoliensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Clade:	Cetancodontamorpha
Family:	Mesonychidae
Genus:	†Andrewsarchus; Osborn, 1924
Binomial name
	†Andrewsarchus mongoliensis; Osborn, 1924
Synonyms
	Paratriisodon (Chow, 1951);

Andrewsarchus is an extinct genus of cetancodontamorph mammal that lived in Inner Mongolia, China during the Middle Eocene epoch. Andrewsarchus was one of the largest meat eating land mammals known to have existed. It lived in East Asia. No complete skeleton has been ever found—only its skull, which measured 33 inches long.

Paleontologists have built up an impression of the rest of the animal's body from knowledge of its skull, and its relation to the bearlike, Mesonyx. If their impression is correct, Andrewsarchus was 1.8 m (6 ft) tall and 4 m (13 ft) long. It had long, strong, jaws which it used to eat a variety of foods. It would have weighed about 800 kg, with a guess to be able to possibly exceed that range and perhaps over 1000 kg. Andrewsarchus was a scavenger and an hunter, it would eat any prey item available. It belonged to a group of mostly carnivorus hoofed mammals called mesonychids. Fossil hunters have found most mesonychid remains near rivers and coasts, suggesting that this was where they lived and hunted.

It is interesting that this creature belongs to ungulates, from which hippos and cetaceans (whales) evolved, and it was probably related to modern-day hippos due to its rather "chubby" build, and weird feet.

Taxonomy[]

The only known was found at a locality in the lower levels of the middle Eocene Irdin Manha Formation of Inner Mongolia, by the paleontological assistant Kan Chuen Pao during the spring of the second year (1923) of the Central Asiatic Expeditions (CAE) of the AMNH, led by the explorer and naturalist Roy Chapman Andrews, famed paleontologist and adventurer of the Velociraptor as well.

Description[]

Osborn (1924) declared Andrewsarchus as the largest terrestrial mammalian carnivore known on the basis of the length of the skull, which he used to estimate its size by comparing it to the mesonychid Mesonyx. However, since the known morphology of Andrewsarchus is entelodont-like and consequently very different to mesonychids in habits and likely in body proportions, according to Szalay and Gould (1966) if a size estimate has to be made it would be more appropriate to follow the proportions of entelodonts.

The type skull of Andrewsarchus mongoliensis (AMNH 20135) is 83.4 cm (32.8 in) in basal length, with a long snout comprising 60% of that measurement. The orbits of the eyes are set low and widely separated from one another by the snout, the sagittal crest is small, and the articulation for the mandible is shallow.

Private Andrew Fossil — Andrewsarchus jaw fossil in private hand

Andrewsarchus mongoliensis has a complete placental tooth formula with 3 incisors, 1 canine, 4 premolars and 3 molars in each side of the jaws, as in entelodonts. The incisors are arranged in a semicircular configuration, the second and third premolars are elongated and single-cusped, the crowns of the molars are heavily wrinkled, and the first and second molars are much more heavily worn than the precedent and subsequent teeth. In fact, the molars are so similar to those of entelodonts it has been suggested that had they been found in isolation, they would have been classified as such. There are also greatly enlarged second incisors, as big as the canines, which despite not being preserved can be estimated from the diameter of their tooth sockets. They were proportionally small compared to the whole dentition and the size of the skull according to Szalay and Gould, contrary to Osborn's description.

Other Wikis[]

https://prehistoric-wiki.fandom.com/wiki/Andrewsarchus

In Popular Culture[]

AndrewsarchusInfobox — Andrewsarcus in Walking with Beasts

Andrewsarchus appeared in the second episode of Walking with Beasts Where one is seen on a beach killing and eating a sea turtle, and two tried to steal a mother Embolotherium’s dead calf.

It is also in Jurassic Park Builder as a limited carnivore in the Glacier park.

Andrewsarchus can be created in the Cenozoic park in Jurassic World: The Game.

Andrewsarchus was also added in the mobile game Jurassic World Alive as a Rare Cenozoic creature.

References[]

Gallery[]

Andrewsarchus/Gallery