#nimravidae

Now I'm reading about them on every museum, paleontology, and general info pages I can find (not really, I'm too tired to read that much rn).

I can't understand all of it (wtf is an auditory bulla?? It's apparently the biggest difference between them and true cats) and I can't quite figure out if their appearance would've been that different? I mean, other than them having shorter legs and being plantigrade. Like, are their heads/faces different? Does this bulla affect the outward appearance of the ears? Like, i get it's in the skull but i would assume the exterior part could be different because the mechanism is slightly different? Maybe?

you get this unspecified hoplophoneus who was also likely bitten in the head by another of its own kind!

though this particular instance could have been an attack from a cousin in the genus nimravus, there are quite a few other instances of false sabertooth cats shanking each other in the eyes and frontal bones that are likely intraspecific (same-species). most frontal bone attacks show evidence of healing and thus failed, but the ones that get into the eye sockets tend to be killing blows!

you get a game of spot the difference!

not only are these two different species, one of them isn’t even a cat!

the animal on the left is an extinct nimravid called dinictis felina. it has a shorter tail, flatter blade-like canine teeth, and five toes on each back foot.

the animal on the right is a modern felid: the mainland clouded leopard, neofelis nebulosa. it has a longer tail, thicker conical teeth, and four toes on each back foot.

you get a maofelis cantonensis cranium!

this nicely preserved skull is the first piece of nimravid material ever found in asia, and its basal position in the family suggests that this area may be where nimravids experienced their earliest diversification! thank you maofelis cantonensis for your insight into the early history of this fascinating feliform family!

"False saber-tooth vs False ostrich"

you’d be forgiven for mistaking this little beast for a clouded leopard, but in reality dinictis felina was not even a cat!

i fursona assign you the nimravid eusmilus- er, sorry, hoplophoneus sicarus!

the genus name, hoplophoneus, means “murder weapon”. the species name, sicarus, is in reference to a small blade typically carried by assassins. it can also be used to describe a killer or assassin themselves. 10/10 best fucking name ever

yes, the families nimravidae and barbourofelidae! some of them were sabertoothed, some had conical teeth like carnivorans of today. they were feliforms, but could be distinguished from true cats by their bearlike plantigrade feet and five back toes!

some, like dinictis felina, were as small as ocelots. some, like quercylurus major, were as large as grizzly bears!

afaik it’s still being debated whether the incredibly bizarre barbourofelids were nimravids or part of their own family.