Hesperocyonines in GURPS
The hesperocyonines were the earliest dogs.
- Proto-dogs
- Prohesperocyon is a small proto-dog, about 2 or 3 kg in mass. Even more primitive than Hesperocyon, it is known only from a partial skull. Here, it is assumed that it had a civet-like body similar to that of Hesperocyon. It lived in North America during the late Eocene (since its features are more primitive than Hesperocyon, and Hesperocyon was present in the middle Eocene, then either Prohesperocyon or an ancestral species much like it must have been present in the middle Eocene as well, but we have not found fossils of it yet).
- Hesperocyon may have been ancestral to all dogs. It was a small civet-shaped critter, about 1.5 to 2 kg in mass with short legs and a long and flexible body and tail. It may have been omnivorous. It lived in the mid Eocene of North America.
- Mesocyon was a fox-sized animal from the early Oligocene of North America weighing in at somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 to 11 kg depending on species. It had many dog-like features, including legs adapted for running, a digitigrade stance, and good hearing.
- Cynodesmus was a coyote-sized omnivore, at somewhere around 15 to 20 kg in mass. It had a short skull, a heavy tail, and partially retractable claws on each of the five toes of each foot. It was probably not a good runner compared to other dogs. It lived in North America during the Oligocene.
- Hesperocyonine bone-crushers. These animals all had heavy, powerful jaws for crunching up bones.
- Caedocyon may have weighed about 15 to 20 kg, making it as big as a coyote. It is known only from a part of its skull, so much of the stats presented here are guesses - we can only guess at how well in could run and the ways it could get around based on comparisons with its relatives. It lived in North America during the Oligocene.
- Ectopocynus might have had a mass of around 15 to 20 kg. It is known only from pieces of its jaw, so much of the stats given here are highly speculative. It lived in North America during the Oligocene and early Pliocene.
- Enhydrocyon had an estimated mass of around 25 to 35 kg, about the size of a wolf.. It lived in the Oligocene of North America.
- Paraenhydrocyon might have weighed about 7 to 9 kg. It lived in the Oligocene of North America.
- Osbornodon was another coyote sized bone-crusher dog at about 15 to 20 kg in mass from the early Oligocene to early Miocene epoch of North America.
- Philotrox was a jackal sized bone-crusher dog weighing perhaps 10 to 15 kg from the Oligocene of North America.
- Sunkahetanka was a jackal sized bone-crusher dog with a mass of maybe 10 to 15 kg from the Oligocene of North America.
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