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Prehistoric Bear-Dog, Badger-Like Fossils on Display

Posted on: Thursday, 3 March 2005, 15:00 CST

Prehistoric bear-dog, badger-like fossils on display

cies of vertebrates, as well as birds and snails, that date to roughly 15 million years ago. The best-preserved 1,200 specimens now make up a permanent collection at the University of California, Berkeley's Museum of Paleontology.

The dig is a legacy of California's power crisis of 2000-01. The fossils were unearthed during construction of new electricity transmission lines near Los Banos.

Also found on the site west of Fresno were the most complete remains yet discovered in the San Joaquin Valley of a bear-dog creature.

Stewart, a research associate at the National History Museum in Los Angeles, said his team found a jaw bone and an inch-long fang from what they estimate was a 200-pound creature.

"They look something like a large pit bull," Stewart said. "They're very tough customers."

Also found was the most complete skull ever of the early horse Merychippus californicus, Latin for "ruminant horse of California."

The three-toed horse stood only 31/2 feet tall from its shoulders to the ground, said Stewart, adding that the animal marks a milestone on the evolutionary path of horses. Long after the dinosaurs, the horses thrived in the Miocene Epoch.

Another find -- two-thirds of a giant tortoise shell -- marked the most complete remnant of the ancient creature ever found in California.

"Very little is known about the West Coast tortoises," said renowned turtle expert and retired paleontologist Howard Hutchison. "It's really about the first time ever when you can say with some certainty that it's linked to the ones found in the Great Plains."

Source: Oakland Tribune

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