9 million years ago, bear dogs and cats used to live together

Everyone knows dogs and cats are enemies, but recent archaeological evidence has shown that 9 million years ago dogs (bear dogs) and cats (sword cats) used to live peacefully together.

Paleontologists from the University of Michigan, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, and University of California, Santa Cruz conducted research onfossil bones of predators found in holes in central Spain. HomeBy analyzing the enamel of the two animals - bear and cat-toothed dogs , they have created a surprising image of living things and what they eat. The research results will be published in the latest edition of Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

These fossils date to about 9 million years.

Cerro de los Batallones in Spain has been the site of excavation in the past eight years .Two of the sites in this area are ancient pits that contain abundant meat-eating mammal bones."These agile predators are likely to jump into the trap of nature when searching for food ," the researchers said.

"These positions provide a unique ' window ' to understanding life in the past," saidSoledad Domingo, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology (University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology) and the first author of the article about to be announced.

Inside the pits, the teamfound three late Miocene predators: the Promegantereon ogygia , the larger, the lion Machairodus aphanistus and the Magericyon anceps . Not that bears are not domestic dogs, bear dogs are prehistoric predators with dog-like teeth and a bear-like body.Physiology shows that they move with sluggish appearance and poor speed of ability.

Data show that the Miocene period of bear and cat-tooth dogs live in a forested areaof pasture plains . Cats seem to compete with the same kind of bait, horses and wild boar - and they will have to use trees to avoid larger species. Most bear dogs hunt for antelope, they occupy a wider area.

The hunting territoriesoverlap slightly but remain separate enough to avoid conflict.

"These three animals live together in a geographic area. What they have done to coexist is to avoid each other and to partition resources,"Domingo said .

Researchers are particularly interested in the fossil teeth they have found and analyzed them to determine the eating habits of these organisms .They sampled teeth from 69 specimens, of which 27 were of sword-tooth cats and bear dogs and the rest from plant- eating animals.

Using stable carbon isotope analysis, the team was able to determine what these organismshad eaten.Data from herbivores were first used to identify plant species and then reconstruct the living environment (forest with some grass). The analysis of predator teeth showed that the above two predators (bear dogs and cat teeth) are likely to have lived in the same habitat when they hunted other sized prey. together.

It seems that if the resources are abundant and there is enough space to avoid conflict , even traditional enemies can find a way to live together without too provoking them.