Geology and Paleontology of Red Rock Canyon
Bone-Crushing Dogs

Upper: Some large dogs (family Canidae), such as this Epicyon haydeni, is capable of crushing and consuming bones of their preys. This species belongs to the extinct subfamily Borophaginae. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (LACM) specimen number 131855. Click the image or here for an enlarged picture.

Lower: Artist reconstruction of a late Miocene Epicyon attaching Synthetoceras, an extinct, distant relative of camels. Illustration was published in the National Geographic Magazine in January 2002 and reproduced by permission from artist Mark Hallett. Click the image or here for an enlarged picture.

A popular science book entitled: "Dogs: Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History" by Xiaoming Wang and Richard H. Tedford will be published by Columbia University Press.  Read an excerpt of this book published in the Natural History magazine.

Link to canid relationship page by X. Wang.

Link to Museum's "Wolf, myth, ..." page.