Family of the Week: The Deinognathids

It's finally here! The Deinognathids are this week's family of the week. This is a highly varied family, and some of the species are among the largest predatory land mammals that ever lived. This family comes in 2 varieties: bipeds and quadrupeds. Some are allosaur-like in their stance and appearance, others are quadrupedal deer-like animals. All have long, thick tails. These are diurnal hunters, though some do like to come out at night sometimes. Though this behavior is rare as their senses of sight are not much better than our's at night. Their hearing is their most acute senses. The ears are quite capable of picking up the slightest footfall of their prey. In the quadrupedal species, all the feet have turned into sharp hooves, while in the bipedal species only the hind feet have become hooves, streamlined for running. Though not all species are runners. The deer-like species make their living by chasing their prey to exhaustion, while the bipedal animals prefer to use the surprise method of hunting. The eyes are large, the size of the ears varies. Reginictis has the smallest ears in the family, in proportion to it's size, but that does not subtract from the highly sensitive hearing mechanisms inside the ears. Some species have softer feet, which do not really resemble hooves, with the exception of the flat nails at the end. But the softer feet allows for better gripping for slippery surfaces. For example, Feresetta uses it's oversized toes to balance on lilypads or water hyacinths. The forepaws of the bipedal deinognathids are usually tipped with sharp, curved claws. These claws are razor sharp and quite well capable of piercing the flesh of even the toughest gigantelope hides. The sense of smell is relatively poor, and the eyes see very well during the day. The fur is thick, and only the nose and inside the ears are nude. In some species, the fur is about as thick as it is in a sea otter today. Some species are big and bulky while others are slender and graceful. Some species are huge, the largest is Deinognathus robustus, with an average length of 50 feet from nose to tail. While others are very tiny, the smallest is Gorgocinetus, with an average length of about 5 inches from nose to tail. They inhabit a variety of habitats from deserts to jungles to oceans. The jaws of all species are phenominally powerful!! And all species are equipped with sharp, conical teeth with serrated edges like the blades of a steak knife.

The most interesting species is Murognathus. It is a small, deer-like deinognathid that lives in the jungle underbrush and feeds on carrion. This animal is interesting in that it has elongated incisors, like a rodent's incisors. Like all deinognathids though, there are 4 sets of incisors, but in Murognathus, they are longer in proportion than in any other species. The reason for this is to be able to pick larger bones clean, and even gnaw through to get at the marrow. They are basically exactly like miniature hyenas, with different dental forumulas. Their small size enables them to squeeze through the larger scavengers and hardly be noticed.

Deinognathus contains some of the largest species, and the largest predatory land mammals ever. These are giants with big heads, bipedal stance, a long, thick tail, the head is like that of a camel, and tiny, round ears. The teeth are long and designed for crushing, with good reason. The common prey of this animal is the southern gigantelope (Megalodorcas antarctica), and the vertebrae of this animal is very thick and tough. Once a predator can crush the vertebrae, the gigantelope goes down. Deinognathus is designed to do this. Though the gigantelope is their more common prey item, Deinognathus will feed on anything from coatis and lemurs to large anacolls. Deinognathus is also a scavenger as well. At the kills of other large animals, they use their size to muscle in on the smaller scavengers. The diet of Deinognathus is about half-and-half. That is half is pre-killed and half is killed by Deinognathus it's self. D. robustus, the largest species, inhabits rather dry areas, and has special adaptations to deal with the frequent dust storms that come up. They have nostrils that can shut tight to keep out sand. They have long eyelashes to also keep sand out of the eyes. They also have thick fur tufts in the ears to keep sand out. The smallest species of Deinognathus is D. minutus, and it lives in the jungle. It stands about as tall as an average human. These animals are much more active hunters than the larger species, therefore it feeds more often on animals it kills it's self. These animals are oftentimes social, and hunt in packs.

A good representative of the deer-like species are Ictocamelus and Tamanoa. There are 3 species of Ictocamelus and one species of Tamanoa. Tamanoa is the most widespread species, occuring throughout all of Eurasia in a variety of habitats. They even live as far south as Australia and northern Africa. Deer-like deinognathids normally feed only on what they kill themselves. They hunt by chasing their prey to exhaustion and killing it when it is down and weakened by the chase. Often the prey is consumed while it is still alive. Deer-like species often hunt in packs for this reason. A single individual would not be able to bring down large prey, as they have no claws or hands, and little more than teeth and sheer power to hold down their victims. Like dogs, Ictocamelus and Tamanoa can run for several hours without tiring. The body form of these animals is like that of a deer or antelope, only more slenderly built, with a long, thick tail, and thick fur.

The smallest deinognathids of all are the pervadines. These are semi-aquatic beach-combers. These animals take the place of sandpipers during the Metazoic. They have long noses, with the nostrils being placed closer to the head, large eyes, and the hands are designed to probe into the sand. The legs are long and slender, and these animals can move quite fast along the sand. The index finger is the longest fingers, and may be twice as long as the otherwise longest fingers. The size of these deinognathids ranges from about the size of a sparrow to the size of a chicken. Though I have placed these animals in the same sub-family as Reginictis, which is an aquatic animal, they are in their own tribe Pervadini, and it is this adaptation of the fingers that sets them apart. There are 5 different genera of Pervadines, all have the same features in the hands. They use their elongated fingers to probe into the sand, feel for potential food items, like clams and sand eels, and then reach into the hole with their elongated snout to dig them out.

Though Deinognathids are the top predators in their range, they are not always without threats. Particularly the young are most vulnerable. Other deinognathids are the main predators. Larger species often feed on the smaller species, and sometimes the young of the larger species. Sometimes, they even practice cannibalism among other members of their own species. The pervadines are often prey for large predatory sea bats like Acerictus and the larger Glaromyscus species. Small deinognathids may also fall prey to dogs, snakes and mongooses.