Huge Hyenas
Huge hyenas, saber-toothed cats, giraffes and zebras lived beside with each other in the territory of Europe 1,8 million years back. Scientists have come to such conclusion, which have analyzed a plenty of petrified remains found out in hyenas’ den nearby to Fonelas place in territory of Granada, in southeast of Spain. In the territory of excavations, named Fonelas P-1, it was possible to find out more than 4000 units of fossils. Gazelles, wolves, wild boars and lynxes have been found out among fragments of skeletons. According to director of excavation, doctor Alfonso Arribas, all these fossils were kept owing to scavengers. Differently, all the remains which have been found out now by paleontologists, almost 2 million years ago in the form of carcasses were moved into the cave by huge hyenas, representatives of the largest species of hyenas - Pachycrocuta. Pachycrocuta brevirostris, lived in Eurasia in late Pleiocen and early Pleistocene and quite often their weight reached up to 200 kg (weight of a small lion), have gathered bones of so different animals lived at that time in one territory. Having caught the prey, hyenas quickly separated meat from bones, and the unnecessary bones which have become garbage, immediately dug in. Good safety of fossils is explained by that fact. For the present time scientists managed to identify representatives of 24 species of big mammals, 8 species of mammals of the smaller size, 2 subvarieties of reptiles and 1 species of the bird kind.
