Talk:Andrewsarchus mongoliensis
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"It was probably about 4-5 metres long, standing nearly 2 metres at the shoulder, making it the largest terrestrial carnivore that has ever existed." There were plenty of carnivorous dinosaurs that were longer than 5 metres (for example, T. Rex). Should this be "largest terrestrial carnivorous mammal" or something? --Whimemsz 21:04, May 7, 2005 (UTC)
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[edit] Order?
A children's book I have (ISBN 0394837371) describes Andrewsarchus as a creodont. Of course, I'm not suggesting that outdated juvenile literature is in any way authoritative, but assuming this was the accepted understanding in 1978 rather than an isolated error, perhaps the article should mention this. Someone a little better-read in the field might provide details on what, if anything, shifted Andrewsarchus from Creodonta to Mesonychia. Lusanaherandraton 08:51, 13 November 2005 (UTC)
- Andrewsarchus was not a creodont, that's sure. Your book is clearly wrong. Credonts were a sister group of the true carnivores, but Andrewsarchus was not related to them as it was an ungulate (it had hooves). It was probably not a mesonychid either, but a more primitive animal (see Mikko's Phylogeny Page).--Jyril 19:19, 13 November 2005 (UTC)
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- If Andrewsarchus is only known by its skull, how do we know it had hooves?
- The Sanity Inspector
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- Because it's the skull of a mesonychid and they were hooved animals. The Singing Badger 16:00, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
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Not to mention, if it is only known from one specimen, how can we say it had a "good run as a species"? Sounds like a guess to me. D Mac12:00, 28 June 2006
[edit] Discovery paper
I found the original discovery paper.[1] The paper is fairly technical, so it's not much of use for me. If there's any paleontology experts around, please take a look of it. The paper is from 1924, so the illustrations are probably in public domain. Note, however, that Andrewsarchus is probably not a mesonychid, a fact that should be mentioned in the article.--JyriL talk 13:44, 6 August 2006 (UTC)
- It was originally thought to be a creodont, but recent comparisons with both creodont and mesonchyd skulls strongly suggest that it was a mesonchyd, and not a creodont as originally thought.--Mr Fink 12:48, 6 October 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Rewriting
I rewrote some of the paragraphs in the Prehistory section, and deleted others. I think that given the scarcity of A. mongoliensis fossils (a skull and some bones), it's too presumptuous to say that it was a successful species that lived throughout the Eocene. Also, I deleted the references to convergent evolution, given as how it was not immediately relevent, and that the examples given lived about 20 million years after A. mongoliensis... Like talking about the Manchus' hunting habits on an article about Shi Huangdi. That, and I eliminated references to Indricotherium.--Mr Fink 15:36, 22 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] When?
When and exactly where did Roy Chapman Andrews discover Andrewsarchus in Mongolia? Certainly, this would be a vital piece of information.--Mr Fink 16:46, 22 November 2006 (UTC)
