Mesonychid

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iMesonychids
Fossil range: Middle Paleocene - Early Oligocene

Mesonyx

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Mesonychia

Families

Hapalodectidae
Mesonychidae
Triisodontidae

Mesonychids are an extinct order of even-toed carnivorous ungulates (hoofed animals) which looked like wolves, and were scavengers for carrion and hunters of fish. These animals possessed unusual triangular teeth that are similar to those of whales. For this reason, scientists had long believed that whales evolved from a form of mesonychid.

These 'wolves on hooves' were the dominant predators (although several paleontologists believe that they were scavengers) in the late Paleocene and Eocene. They are closely related to the Artiodactylans and Cetaceans, although they are no longer seen as the ancestors of whales. They probably descended from the Condylarths and are part of the cohort or superorder Laurasiatheria.

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