more #perspectives! the next one is on the way as well
"Pawing the Pawpaw" Amphicyon/Kyptoceras Neogene, 15 million years ago, Olcott Formation This was posted a few weeks back on my Patreon, available to $10 supporters!
In what will become Nebraska, an Amphicyon ingens plays with a pawpaw fruit during the autumn season. Though pawpaws are some of the largest North American fruit and capable of fitting snugly in a human hand at their biggest, they are utterly dwarfed by the Amphicyon, who weighs one ton and whose head reaches that of a human's - even on all fours. Pawpaws have grown in North America potentially since the time of the dinosaurs. They fruit during the autumn, and tend to grow in clonal thickets, clustering together on the forest floor. Autumn foliage has existed since the dinosaur age, starting with ginkgos and likely some conifers, but presumably really kicked off as angiosperms ramped up their diversity during the Cretaceous. Amphicyon ingens was an enormous species of "bear-dog" - a group that ranged from omnivorous to hypercarnivorous, though I have no idea where ingens falls on that scale. It would have pursued its prey relatively slowly for great distances before grappling it and delivering a killing bite. Males were larger than females. In the background is Kyptoceras, a species of protoceratid potentially affiliated with ruminants or chevrotains. They are trying to avoid notice for good reason. Check out #perspectives on my blog for more of this 4-billion-year journey through time! Next up, and already partially viewable on my Patreon: A large, vulturine bird as tall as a man yet capable of flight nonetheless...
