HOME | DD

Description

One of the last dogs on Earth, the scimitar-toothed dingo (Smilocyon potens) is maybe the most powerful dog of all times.

These dogs are heavily built, with a strong neck and shoulders, a yellowish fur, like today's desert dingoes (their ancestors) and a pair of scimitar-like canines, which they use to deliver a devastating bite.

Their social behaviour is the same as today’s wolves and large canids, hunting in packs and taking special care of their puppies. As the top predators of the future Australian outback, they hunt large prey such as the giant australian camel (genus Notylopus).

I once labeled this species as unlikely, since scimitar or saber-toothed predators are usually ambush hunters and not pack-hunting predators such as wild dogs and wolves. However, recent discoveries on the biology of scimitar-toothed cats such as Homotherium have revealed they were social and cooperative hunters like lions, so a scimitar-toothed dingo may not be such a bad idea after all.

Description

One of the last dogs on Earth, the scimitar-toothed dingo (Smilocyon potens) is maybe the most powerful dog of all times.

These dogs are heavily built, with a strong neck and shoulders, a yellowish fur, like today's desert dingoes (their ancestors) and a pair of scimitar-like canines, which they use to deliver a devastating bite.

Their social behaviour is the same as today’s wolves and large canids, hunting in packs and taking special care of their puppies. As the top predators of the future Australian outback, they hunt large prey such as the giant australian camel (genus Notylopus).

I once labeled this species as unlikely, since scimitar or saber-toothed predators are usually ambush hunters and not pack-hunting predators such as wild dogs and wolves. However, recent discoveries on the biology of scimitar-toothed cats such as Homotherium have revealed they were social and cooperative hunters like lions, so a scimitar-toothed dingo may not be such a bad idea after all.