A team of researchers from the National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN-CSIC), the Catalan Institute of Palacies Miquel Crossfonte (ICP), the University of Alcalá (UAH), the University of Zaragoza and the University Institute of Research in Environmental Sciences of Aragon (IUCA), have discovered the remains of a predator weighing more than 200 kilos, as if it were a brown bear, but with sharp teeth like those of a leopard. The remains of this new species of dog-bear – parts of the skull and teeth of several specimens – have been discovered in the Cerro de los Batallones, in the south of the community of Madrid (Spain).
Never before has a specimen like this been seen which, according to the analysis of experts, belongs to the family of amphithoids (popularly known as bear-dogs) and would have lived in this area of Madrid 9 million years ago during the Miocene.
The new species of bear-dog has been christened "Ammitocyon kainos" which had highly developed canal teeth, with large, sharp and relatively small surfaces. The specimen would have based its diet more than 70% on meat , something that is not currently found in any type of carnivore.
There are no current representatives of this family in our days but, in the past, it had to be one of the most numerous and diverse groups of carnivores in the terrestrial ecosystems of Europe and North America.
