Cats, Dogs and a 20 Million Year Rivalry

cats and dogs are lovable playful and in most cases harmless their their wild relatives of the fiercest carnivores alive many of them apex predators and even occasional man-eaters and before humans were around there were even larger versions of these animals stalking the planet felines evolved in asia in canines evolved in north america so when the landbridge opened up between these two continents these two families were thrust into direct competition [Music] felines and canines are found within the carnivore Oakley it contains nearly all the terrestrial predatory animals like heinous bears weasels and even some aquatic predators like seals before the carnivorans another group of very similar mammals used to be the dominant male Ian carnivores they were called Cree adults within this group there were animals like the cat-like Patriot fearless and there were hyena Don's there were some of the largest terrestrial carnival's since the dinosaurs and looked very doglike they were so similar in fact they were once thought to be the ancestors of carnivores but it has since been realized that these similarities were just superficial as they had just converged on similar body plans and hunting strategies and they are now known to be their own group more closely related to pangolins interestingly despite their lifestyle and appearance funnily enough pangolins are not closely related to armadillos and according to their DNA are in fact the closest living relatives to carnivorans and the Korea Don's were even more closely related a likely common ancestor of cats and dogs was called or malossi in the story of which there are fragmentary remains dating back 55 million years ago found in Europe and it was thought to be a tree dweller due to its ankle bones very early on in their evolution they split into two groups caniforms and Fila forms or doglike and cat-like animals along with cats on the cat-like side is where hyenas and fuzes evolved from along with dogs and the dogleg side is where bears seals Andrew Coons of old from a member of the doglike carnivorans found its way to North America where it evolved into the very first canid relatively shortly after this during the Oligocene about 30 million years ago the canid family separated into three distinct sub families first there was the Hesperus i na then the bora Fagen a and finally the last group to evolve were canines the founding member of the Hesperus in a group was called Hesperus saya and her had some unquestionable traits giving it away as a canid his ear bones were arranged in a canid fashion its top row of back teeth stretched out further than their bottom row which gave them leverage while crushing bone despite these features its appearance wasn't that doglike and it had retractable claws that later canis would lose because of its claws and overall body shape it was be a good tree climber Bora Fagan a the second group to diverge for the lineage are often referred to as the bone-crushing dogs they got this name because they have distinctive marks on their teeth similar to what hyenas have and they are famous for eating bone the largest species of Bora Fagan a were most likely hyper carnivorous being the top predators in their ecosystems and this group included FSI on that was the largest canid of all possibly weighing up to 200 kilos finally canines are the ancestors of nearly all the currently living dogs the evolution of felines is not as well understood due to less fossils being known but the first-ever feline started to appear a little over 30 million years ago in Asia and Europe the first caster cross into America were called pseudo Lewis and they were very successful as there are five species being known from the continent these cats crossed the land bridge 20 million years ago which put them in direct competition with the some 30 species of dog that were now living here and unfortunately the success of the cats was at a cost to the dogs older Kanaan's in North America enjoyed a much larger ecological diversity than they do today for instance the latest beaches of Bora fagner were thought to be shore pursue or ambush predators closing in on their prey silently and only running a short distance to catch it this is a niche that mountain lions fill and many different prehistoric cats that were known from North America also failed it is thought that cats were better at this niche than any dog has bora Fagin's saw a sharp decline when cats arrived on the continent one feature that cats have possibly giving them an edge in its way of life are their retractable claws the ability to pull out their claws only when they need them would mean they could keep them from wearing down and giving them an edge in an ambush situation it is also possible that smaller cats could have out competed some of the tree climbing canyons as well Suda Lewis the first cat that arrived in North America was thought to be a good tree climber this was due to its slender body shape and short legs making his build similar to other carnivorans living today than unknown to spend a lot of their life in the trees due to this the cane is occupying climbing niches could also be threatened by the arrival of felines felines may have been proven to be better carnivores evidenced by their domination in a lot of niches but luckily for the currently living canis there were some areas that they couldn't compete with canines do not tire easily and do not rely on ambush tactics to catch their prey like big cats a grey wolf could travel 30 miles a day in the search of food and exhaust their prey through a superior stamina a way of life that hasn't really been replicated by any felines to this day due to these adaptations canines were not just able to survive in North America alongside the feline onslaught that thrive they also traveled in Reverse to the cats crossing through Alaska into Asia Africa and Europe spreading and diversifying and holding their own against any cat in these continents they even crossed into South America along with felines off of the Panamanian lab returned up and were very successful out competing many of the native species with several species being endemic to South America today canines on average make for better generalist than cats and their old relatives making them more adaptable the downfall of the large borer Fagen a may have been due to them being hyper carnivore specialists only eating fairly large prey in comparison grey wolves have an extremely diverse list of prey hunting animals as big as bison and musk ox too as small as beavers and hares a similar process is happening again today where canids are still largely successful around the world whereas nearly all big cats are endangered as the specialist niches are less tolerable to changes in the ecosystem thank you for watching if you'd like to be updated at future content then consider subscribing [Music]

Channel: Moth Light Media

Views: 367,616

Rating: 4.9300079 out of 5

Keywords: evolution, cats and dogs, cats, dogs, canid, felid, canine, feline, borophaginae, hsperocyon, largest dog ever, caniform, feliform, paleontology, cenozoic, prehistoric mammals, after the dinosaurs, ma

Id: aQvxWaUwlGA

Length: 6min 30sec (390 seconds)

Published: Thu May 02 2019