- According to a new study published in Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology on April 18, 2019, an extinct species of giant mammal has been identified after researchers discovered fossils left inside a drawer at a Kenyan national museum. The new species is dubbed as the Simbakubwa kutokaafrika, meaning “big lion from Africa” in Swahili.
- The species roamed east Africa 22 million years ago and was one of the most fearsome predators in its era.
- Despite their name, the species was not closely related to big cats or any other mammalian carnivore alive today. Instead it is the oldest known member in a group of extinct mammals called hyaenodonts, so named due to their dental resemblance to hyenas, even though the groups are also unrelated.
- The study suggests the beast was bigger than a polar bear and had a skull the size of rhino. Its eight-inch (20 cm) canine teeth as large as bananas. It weighed about a tonne and was 8 feet long (2-1/2 metres) snout to rump.
