Entelodont

Entelodonts — sometimes facetiously termed hell pigs or terminator pigs — are an extinct family of pig-like omnivores endemic to forests and plains of North America, Europe, and Asia from the middle Eocene to early Miocene epochs (37.2—16.3 million years ago), existing for about 21 million years.

Taxonomy

The Entelodontidae were named by Richard Lydekker and assigned to Nonruminantia by Gregory (1910). They were then assigned to Artiodactyla by Lucas et al. (1998) and to Entelodontoidea by Carroll (1988) and Boisserie et al. (2005). While entelodonts have long been classified as members of the Suina, Spaulding et al. have found them to be closer to whales and hippos than to pigs.

Description

Entelodonts are an extinct group of rather pig-like omnivorous mammals with bulky bodies, but short, slender legs, and long muzzles. The largest were the North American Daeodon shoshonensis, and the Eurasian Paraentelodon intermedium, standing up to 2.1 m (6.9 ft) tall at the shoulder, with brains the size of an orange.