#hell pig

Archaeotherium and two Hesperocyon running in late Eocene/early Oligocene North America.

The newest assortment of creatures!

Muensterella scutellaris

Myxinikela siroka

Vouivria danparisensis

Daeodon hollandi

Cynotherium sardous

Paleogene critters!

65 to 23 million years ago, when the mammals took over the globe!

Andrewsarchus - Indohyus - Entelodont / Hell Pig

Ambulocetus - Hyracodon - Basilosaurus

Hyaenodon - Uintatherium - Gastornis

Moeritherium - Titanoboa - Eohippus

Proailurus - Megacerops

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Drew some digital art of one of my theriotypes, Entelodontidae, also called the hell or terminator pig.

I used this as my reference, turns out it was actually a skull of Archaeotherium mortoni. Still pretty cool to draw a different entelodontid for a change.

In the forests of the Appalachian Mountains, an elusive creature is said to be seen. It is said to resemble a normal deer when one looks at it from afar, yet this resemblance wanes steadily as you are closing the distance to it. Size that rivals that of the very largest bull moose(plural), heavier bodily build, long legs that are thicker than that of any actual deer, strange, seemingly undersized antlers and the form of its head are the features that catch one’s eye.

But the entirety of its ferocious exterior reveals itself when this animal is just in the several dozens of yards from whomever is looking at it, and even more is revealed when it is found after a successful hunt. It looks with the pair of sharp, forward facing eyes highlighted by thick, bright-colored brow ridges and characteristic, highly pronounced cheekbones. Underneath the wide snout remotely resembling that of a hyena, one sees a maw with massive canine teeth. The size and bulk of these jaws suggests that this beast is indeed capable of breaking skulls and legs with its monstrous bite. The coarse, tough coat of the Not-Deer resembles that of a wild boar rather than that of a deer. The tail is short, with a large dark brush. The hooves are unlike that of deers either - these are sharp and more separated, evolved for doubling as an offensive weapon.

The overall impression of this animal might remind the viewer about something that could exist in the ancient times, long before humans started walking straight, yet long after the extinction of dinosaurs. And it is, in fact, an actual descendant of such an animal. It is a vestige of the long-gone era of Miocene - an Entelodont, to be precise. Its “antlers” have, in fact, gradually evolved from enormous cheekbone protrusions seen in the skull of Archaeotherium. The reason why the bone growths of that particular Entelodont lineage moved upwards and to the back of the skull is a subject of debates. These “antlers” mostly consist of keratin, with only a lower, basic part of it being an extension of a skull, which resembles the horns of a pronghorn, despite being so different externally. Much like the pronghorn, the keratinous part of these horns gets shed and regrows annually. Female horns are usually smaller than that of bulls.

The brain compartment is several times larger than that of any other known entelodont, and enables this animal to have problem-solving skills, as well as an astonishing memory. The not-deer is an omnivore, and employs plenty of different strategies and tactics for hunting and foraging alike. For example, the diabolocervus can instantly switch one tactic for another when hunting a feral hog, its newly-emerged favourite prey. When a family unit of not-deers comes to forage for pine cones, the father bull, being of greater height, stands up to use his front legs and horns to drop the cones for the cow and calves. The not-deer’s ability to stand and walk on its extremely powerful hind legs is often used for reaching high-hanging food as well as for intimidation and defence.

The aforementioned intelligence could evolve under the pressure of advanced predators such as big saber-toothed and normal-toothed cats and short-nosed bears that were capable of robbing these entelodonts of their food supply, as well as hunt the entelodonts themselves. The reproduction rate of a not-deer is relatively low: 1-2 calves can be born after 1 year of pregnancy, with a maturity threshold of 4-5 years for cows and 5-7 years for bulls. Because of this, the not-deers have to use their intelligence for prolonged and meticulous biparental care for their offspring. Depending on exact environmental circumstances, the family unit may consist of 1 bull, 1-2 cows, 1-3 calves and 1-3 subadults. The overall number of specimens per family rarely exceeds 4-6 individuals. The sub-adult not-deers participate in protecting and helping younger calves, as well as aid their parents at hunting. Not-deer leaves its family when it reaches 450-600 kilograms of weight. In their period between leaving a family and creating their own, not-deers of both sexes form small male-only and female-only groups of 2-3 individuals. When it comes to contesting for females, not-deer bulls are relatively unaggressive towards each other, and prefer displaying feats of strength and intimidation rather than fighting each other directly. Even if the rare instance of fighting occurs, it doesn’t go past minor wounds. The not-deers generally prefer to hold a non-violent attitude towards each other, and are capable of solving their disputes through communication, for which they utilise diverse vocalisations and tail movements. However, they’re highly elusive and foul-tempered when it comes to interacting with other species.