Kubanochoerus

Name: Kubanochoerus.
Phonetic: Ku-ban-oh-coe-rus.
Named By: Gabunia‭ ‬-‭ ‬1955.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Mammalia,‭ ‬Artiodactyla,‭ ‬Suidae.
Species:‭ ‬K.‭ ‬gigas,‭ ‬K.‭ ‬lantianensis,‭ ‬K.‭ ‬mancharensis,‭ ‬K.‭ ‬minheensis,‭ K. parvus, ‬K.‭ ‬robustus.
Diet: Herbivore/Omnivore‭?
Size: Largest species such as K.‭ ‬gigas up to‭ ‬1.2‭ ‬meters tall at the shoulder.
Known locations: Scattered across Africa and Eurasia.
Time period: Burdigalian to Tortonian of the Miocene.
Fossil representation: Many individuals.




       Kubanochoerus is a genus of extinct long legged pig that seems to‭ ‬have had a very broad distribution reaching from Russia to China and across to at least eastern Africa throughout most of the Miocene.‭ ‬The most distinctive feature of Kubanochoerus is the skull which is proportionately long when compared to modern pigs,‭ ‬but does have roughly the same proportions as the entelodonts,‭ ‬pig-like long legged mammals that came to decline during the early Miocene.‭
       Most notable about the skull of Kubanochoerus is the large bony protrusion that rose up from the top of the skull which would have been the basis for the horn.‭ ‬This horn angled forwards as has been speculated to only have been present in males,‭ ‬suggesting a display and possibly‭ ‬offensive purpose for the horn.‭ ‬Two much smaller horns rose up from the eyebrows.
       Kubanochoerus were probably primarily herbivorous animals that spent their time foraging through the undergrowth for food on plants growing‭ ‬near‭ ‬or just under the‭ ‬ground.‭ ‬However as any keeper of pigs will tell you,‭ ‬pigs will eat almost anything edible‭ ‬you give them,‭ ‬including meat,‭ ‬so it’s not inconceivable that Kubanochoerus may have also scavenged the carcasses of other animals,‭ ‬and perhaps even killed and eaten smaller animals that they may have disturbed while foraging.‭ ‬Predatory threats to Kubanochoerus would have included the animals such as nimravids‭ (‬false sabre toothed cats‭) ‬and amphicyonids‭ (‬bear dogs‭) ‬in the earlier stages of the Miocene,‭ ‬while gradually replaced by machairodonts‭ (‬true sabre-toothed cats‭) ‬and canids in the later stages of the Miocene.

Further reading
-‭ ‬Estimating the Preservation of Tooth Structures Towards a new Scale of Observation‭ ‬-‭ ‬Journal of Taphonomy,‭ ‬vol5,‭ ‬issue‭ ‬1‭ ‬-‭ ‬Yannicke Dauphin,‭ ‬Stephane Monttuelle,‭ ‬Cecile Quantin‭ & ‬Pierre Massard‭ ‬-‭ ‬2007.
- A new species of Kubanochoerus (Suidae, Artiodactyla) from the Linxia Basin, Gansu Province, China. - Vertebrata PalAsiatica - Hou Su-Kuan & Tau Deng - 2019.



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