{"id":10372,"date":"2017-11-09T02:45:37","date_gmt":"2017-11-09T10:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2017\/11\/09\/news-4145\/"},"modified":"2017-11-09T02:45:37","modified_gmt":"2017-11-09T10:45:37","slug":"news-4145","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2017\/11\/09\/news-4145\/","title":{"rendered":"This Extinct Wolf-Sized Otter Demolished Prey With Its Forceful Bite"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Credit to Author: Becky Ferreira| Date: Thu, 09 Nov 2017 10:00:00 +0000<\/strong><\/p>\n<p> When people think of otters, \u201ctop predator\u201d is not normally the phrase that jumps to mind. But that\u2019s only because we live in an era of unfathomably cute otter species, which range in weight <a href=\"https:\/\/www.livescience.com\/55090-otter-facts.html\" target=\"_blank\">from 11 to 90 pounds<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p> Wind the clock back 6.24 million years, however, and you might have to confront <i> Siamogale melilutra<\/i>, an early otter that tipped the scales at 110 pounds and was roughly the size of a wolf. Paleontologists <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/full\/10.1080\/14772019.2016.1267666\" target=\"_blank\">announced the discovery<\/a> of this prehistoric species in the <i> Journal of Systematic Palaeontology <\/i>earlier this year, after finding its fossilized remains in China\u2019s Yunnan province. <\/p>\n<div data-iframely-id=\"pctq8I2\" data-embedded-url=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/b9Aj1zN9p0A\" class=\"article__embed article__embed--iframely\">\n<div style=\"left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.2493%;\" data-iframely-smart-iframe=\"true\"><iframe  src= width=\"100%\" height=\"420\" frameborder=\"0\" ><\/iframe> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> Now, a second study on the extinct aquatic mammal, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/srep\/\" target=\"_blank\">published Thursday in <i> Scientific Reports<\/i><\/a>, shows that <i> S. melilutra <\/i>was not only an uber-otter, it also had an unexpectedly powerful bite. <\/p>\n<p> Scientists led by Z. Jack Tseng, a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.buffalo.edu\/news\/releases\/2017\/11\/005.html\" target=\"_blank\">computational anatomist<\/a> at the University at Buffalo and a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, estimated the strength of the primitive otter\u2019s jaws based on its cranial remains. <\/p>\n<p> When they compared computed tomography (CT) scans of 10 living otter species\u2019 skulls to simulations of the Siamogale\u2019s head, they found that the extinct animal\u2019s jaws were six times stiffer than expected. <\/p>\n<div class=\"article__media\"><picture class=\"article__image\"><source media=\"(max-width: 25em)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1510167713934-155162_web.jpeg?resize=400:*, https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1510167713934-155162_web.jpeg?resize=600:* 2x\"><source media=\"(max-width: 40.625em)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1510167713934-155162_web.jpeg?resize=650:*, https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1510167713934-155162_web.jpeg?resize=975:* 2x\"><source media=\"(max-width: 53.125em)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1510167713934-155162_web.jpeg?resize=850:*, https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1510167713934-155162_web.jpeg?resize=1275:* 2x\"><source media=\"(max-width: 65.625em)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1510167713934-155162_web.jpeg?resize=1050:*, https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1510167713934-155162_web.jpeg?resize=1575:* 2x\"><source media=\"(min-width: 65.625em)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1510167713934-155162_web.jpeg?resize=1050:*, https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1510167713934-155162_web.jpeg?resize=1575:* 2x\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/_uncategorized\/1510167713934-155162_web.jpeg\" alt=\"\"><\/picture>\n<div class=\"article__image-caption\">Comparison of otter jaws. Image: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurekalert.org\/multimedia\/emb\/155162.php?from=376002\">Tseng et al., Scientific Reports, 2017<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> This correlates to a stronger bite force than extant otters, even accounting for the differences in size. It also suggests that Siamogale may have been an apex hunter in its swamp foodweb, capable of puncturing the shells of crabs, mollusks, and turtles, chewing through the bones of frogs and birds, or taking a chunk out of larger animals if threatened.<\/p>\n<p> &#8220;We don&#8217;t know for sure, but we think that this otter was more of a top predator than living species of otters are,&#8221; Tseng <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurekalert.org\/emb_releases\/2017-11\/uab-agp110617.php\" target=\"_blank\">said in a statement<\/a>. &#8220;Our findings imply that Siamogale could crush much harder and larger prey than any living otter can.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__blockquote\"> <b> Read More: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/motherboard.vice.com\/en_us\/article\/9akk98\/just-in-case-you-hadnt-yet-seen-the-keyboard-playing-free-jazz-otters\" target=\"_blank\"><b> These Keyboard-Playing Free Jazz Otters Are Going Places<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p> This is not the first time that the otter family has proved to be more fearsome than its cuddly appearance might imply. Humans are <a href=\"http:\/\/www.startribune.com\/july-15-anoka-triathlete-suffers-25-bites-in-otter-attack-in-island-lake-near-duluth\/162482036\/\" target=\"_blank\">sometimes attacked<\/a> by rabid otters, and the horrifying acts of depravity otters commit against baby seals include <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2014\/4\/24\/5640890\/9-questions-about-otters-you-were-too-embarrassed-to-ask\" target=\"_blank\">gratuitous killing and necrophilia<\/a>. It goes to show that no matter how adorable you think these animals are, you otter keep your distance. <\/p>\n<p> <b> <i> Get six of our favorite Motherboard stories every day <\/i><\/b><a href=\"http:\/\/motherboard.club\/\" target=\"_blank\"><b> <i> by signing up for our newsletter<\/i><\/b><\/a><b><i>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/motherboard.vice.com\/en_us\/article\/wjg4m4\/giant-extinct-otter-had-a-forceful-bite-predator\" target=\"bwo\" >https:\/\/motherboard.vice.com\/en_us\/rss<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/articles\/5a0353272f43e10bde7b6488\/lede\/1510167391784-155163_web-1.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Credit to Author: Becky Ferreira| Date: Thu, 09 Nov 2017 10:00:00 +0000<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This 110-pound otter that lived 6 million years ago had a powerful bite, and was likely a top predator.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[10643,13328,10378],"tags":[16502,13317,16504,16503,14140,14071,13298],"class_list":["post-10372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-independent","category-motherboard","category-security","tag-bite","tag-discoveries","tag-extinct","tag-otters","tag-paleontology","tag-prehistory","tag-read"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10372\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}