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domesticated dogs are known to enjoy jaw large osseous tissue , but they lack the jaw strong suit to pulverize them . In fact , in today ’s ecosystem , the only large predators with skulls and jaw powerful enough to splinter bones arehyenas . But that was n’t the case millions of years ago , researchers report in a new written report .
Scientists had known from age of analyzing dodo of a wolf - size of it species of wild dog calledBorophagus parvus — which live from about 16 million to 2 million year ago — that its skull and herculean jawbone portion out many features with those of bone - crunching spotted hyena ( Crocuta genus Crocuta ) , according to the discipline . While this suggested the canine also could crush bones , scientist still could n’t be sure that was unfeigned , work co - author Jack Tseng , a operative anatomist at the University at Buffalo , state Live Science in an email . [ 10 out Giants That Once Roamed North America ]
A micro-CT scan of aBorophaguscoprolite shows variously colored bone fragments inside.
" You could say we were scientifically clog , " Tseng say .
However , the head gate were opened with the find of a cacheof coprolites — 14 opus of ossified poop — at a site in California ’s Mehrten Formation . The location date to the lateMiocene epoch , about 5.3 million to 6.4 million years ago , and is known for being rich inBorophagusfossils ; the coprolite , which are much rarified than off-white , are thought to be about 2 million years erstwhile , the study authors report .
Using micro - computed X - shaft of light imaging ( micro - CT ) scans to peer inside theancient poop , the research worker discovered plenty of bone splinter and fragments in all of the specimen , adding up to an average of 5 percentage of the coprolites ' heap .
An artist’s conception of feeding by a pack of bone-crushing dogs of the speciesBorophagus secundus, a relative ofBorophagus parvus
" seldom do paleontologists get the chance to corroborate our skull - centric inquiry using the other end , " Tseng said . And in this illustration , the coprolite also told the researcher thatBorophagus ' run through habit did n’t resemble patched hyaena ' as much as they ’d thought .
patched hyena exhaustively digest swallowed bone ; therefore , when they poop , they produce " mochi - alike balls of feces that are full of bone powder , " Tseng enounce . Borophaguspoop , on the other hand , held sherd of undissolved bone , suggesting that while the extinct wiener may haveswallowed boneslike espy hyenas , they digested them like striped hyenas ( Hyaena hyaena ) and brown hyenas ( Hyaena brunnea ) , which do n’t process bones as efficiently as their patched cousins , Tseng aver .
As well as providing hint toBorophagus ' diet and digestion , the fossilised poo also testified to how they may have lived . coprolite were found in communal " latrines " used by multiple someone , suggestingBorophaguswere societal , territorial animals , according to the study . forward-looking hyenas , which are alsosocial hunter , propose a glimpse of how that behaviour might be link up to bone break down after a successful hunting , study Pb author Xiaoming Wang , a curator in the Department of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles , told Live Science in an email .
" While social hunting helps in overcoming large quarry , once the prey is secured , the feeding itself is also extremely private-enterprise . So competitive , in fact , that case-by-case hyenas have no clock time to manducate their kernel , and they simply break down the prey in large enough chunk and chop-chop swallow bones and meat together , in ordering to grab the next snack of food , " Wang explained .
The findings were write online May 22 in the journaleLife .
Original clause onLive scientific discipline .
