Entelodontidae is an extinct family of pig-like artiodactyls (even-toed ungulates) that inhabited the Northern Hemisphere (Asia, Europe, and North America) from the late Eocene to the early Miocene epochs, about 38 to 19 million years ago. Their large heads, low snouts, narrow gait, and proposed omnivorous diet inspires comparisons to suids (true pigs) and tayassuids (peccaries), and historically they have been considered closely related to these families purely on a morphological basis. However, studies which combine morphological and molecular (genetic) data on artiodactyls instead suggest that entelodonts are cetancodontamorphs, more closely related to hippos and cetaceans through their resemblance to Pakicetus, than to basal pigs like Kubanochoerus and other ungulates.
Description
Entelodonts could get quite large, and in many cases are the largest mammals in their respective ecosystems. The largest entelodont known from a complete skeleton was Daeodon, a North American entelodont that could reach an estimated weight of 750 kg (1650 pounds),
The same adaptations useful for processing tough plant material would be equally useful for carrion and bones, which could have been major components of the diet for some entelodonts.
Some entelodonts may have engaged in active predation, though the extent of this behavior is debated. Several species of modern pigs occasionally engage in predation, and even traditional herbivores like camels show dental wear consistent with scavenging. Entelodon<nowiki/>'s tooth microwear showed no overlap with the modern brown bear (Ursus arctos), and it probably did not actively hunt large mammals as part of its normal diet. The wide gape and low skulls of entelodonts would have assisted biting competitions, which are supported by fossil evidence. Large bite marks, including healed punctures, are common on skulls of various American entelodonts. These wounds are concentrated above the sinuses, and are only found on adult specimens. One could easily draw comparisons between these bite marks and the wide range of intraspecific competition over mates or territories in modern artiodactyls. One possible function for the anterior tubercles is as a support for toughened skin, which would have acted as a buffer or display feature during competitive behavior. Various names were erected to encompass living and extinct bunodont-toothed and non-ruminant artiodactyls, such as "Omnivoria" (Owens, 1858), "Bunodontia" (Lydekker, 1883) and "Nonruminantia" (Gregory, 1910).
- †Paraentelodon
- †Proentelodon?
In popular culture
thumb|[[Charles R. Knight's depiction of Entelodon (~1890s)|left|209x209px]]In popular media, entelodonts are sometimes nicknamed hell pigs or terminator pigs.
Entelodonts appear in the third episode of the popular BBC documentary Walking with Beasts, where, in the program, the narrator always refers to the creatures as "entelodonts" rather than a more specific genus, such as Entelodon. The same creatures appear in another BBC production, the 2001 remake of The Lost World.
Entelodonts were also the main focus of episode 4 of National Geographic Channel's show Prehistoric Predators in an episode titled "Killer Pig". The episode featured a number of claims unproven or disproven by science, such as Archaeotherium (identified as "entelodont") being the top predator of the American Badlands, and evolving directly into the even larger Daeodon (called "Dinohyus" in the episode).
See also
- Megafauna
- Sanitheriidae
- Metridiochoerus
- Megalochoerus
- Notochoerus