Amphicyon

Meaning of name: Ambiguous dog

Named by: Édouard Lartet, 1836

Time period: Miocene

Size: Up to 2.5m long

Diet: Carnivore but possibly omnivore

Origin: North America, Eurasia, Africa

Fossils seen at: Paris

Interesting fact: Amphicyon is the most famous member of the ‘bear-dogs’, a group of carnivores named for having a robust body like a bear, but with a skull more like that of a dog. Bear-dogs are members of neither family, but they did coexist with the ancestors of modern bears and canids.