Spotted hyenas have chalk white feces containing digested bone matter, presumably due to a highly acidic digestive system, but the coprolites of Borophagus contained undissolved bones (which they ate regularly). Its skull structure was similar to the spotted hyena, but its digestive system resembled that of striped and brown hyenas. The results show that Borophagus parvus weighed around 24 kg and hunted large prey of 35 kg up to 100 kg: the size of a living mule deer. – including some of the researchers involved in the previous study – analyzed the fossil coprolites and their ingredients in great detail more » using computer tomography, measurements and comparisons with living predators and their prey. These coprolites preserve ingested bone and so provide more evidence of what this species of dogs ate. In a recent study in 2018, researchers discovered fossilized feces, also known as coprolites, which presumably belong to Borophagus parvus that lived in central California between 5 to 6 million years. The last of these bone-cracking dogs, Borophagus, vanished approximately 2 million years ago. It is therefore likely that these extinct North American dogs played a similar role in the ecosystem as living hyenas do now. Their skeletal features – such as highly robust skulls and jaws, teeth to withstand high stress, and large muscle-attachment areas for a powerful bite –share many similarities with the spotted hyena. Yet, between 16 to 2 million years ago, the common, but now extinct North American dogs also crushed bone. This feeding ability is rare today, and African and Asian hyenas, particularly the spotted hyena, are the only true ‘bone-crackers’ in our modern ecosystems. Living hyenas are infamous for crushing the bones of their prey to extract the nutritious marrow inside.
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