Fur-bearing Finale

December will not start until after the next week begins. However, this is going to be the last No-shave November mammal week that we are going to have here this year. This week's animal is an interesting carnivore. In fact, it is one of the more popular carnivores that existed during the Cenozoic, though not the most famous of its family. We have previously discussed Smilodon, and this week we examine its cousin, the interestingly jawed Thylacosmilus. The name is not widely known, but the odd mandibles of Thylacosmilus atrox and its family (Thylacosmilidae) have been found for nearly a century and are well known. The Miocene to Pliocene cat-like animals inhabited South America and were, amazingly maybe, marsupials. Their resemblance to cats is actually quite a coincidence. Their gape is a rather interesting conundrum, considering their teeth, and their bite force is extremely weak for their size. This is going to be a week of examining the weak and discovering what makes a marsupial so very much like a cat. Look at that adorable little face:

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