page_title: Simocyon
section_title: Classification
hierarchical_section_title: Simocyon / Classification
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: Skull (A) and life appearance (B) of Simocyon batalleri (artwork by M. Antón).
context_page_description: Simocyon is a genus of extinct carnivoran mammal in the family Ailuridae. Simocyon, which was about the size of a mountain lion, lived in the late Miocene and early Pliocene epochs, and has been found in Europe, Asia, and rarely, North America and Africa.
context_section_description: The relationship of Simocyon to other carnivores has been controversial, but studies of the structure of its ear, teeth, and ankle now indicate that its closest living relative is the red panda, Ailurus (Wang, 1997; Peigné et al., 2005), although it is different enough to be classified in a separate subfamily (Simocyoninae) along with related genera Alopecocyon and Actiocyon.  While the red panda is primarily herbivorous, the teeth and skull of Simocyon indicate that it was carnivorous, and it may have engaged in some bone crushing, like living hyenas (Peigné et al., 2005).  The skeleton of Simocyon indicates that, like the red panda, it could climb trees, although it probably also spent considerable time on the ground (Salesa et al., 2008).  Simocyon and Ailurus both have a radial sesamoid, an unusual bone in the wrist that acts like a false thumb (Salesa et al., 2006). Its competitors during its time period were tremarctine bears, nimravid false cats, and early canids and felids.
caption: Reconstructed skull and head
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