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An Archaeotherium cranium on display within John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in Oregon. The image serves solely for representation; this specific fossil was not part of the recent investigation.(Image credit: Gabbro via Alamy)ShareShare by:
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Massive North American “hell pigs” might have been crushing osseous material around 30 million years ago, whereas their smaller kin tackled softer substances, like animal tissue, according to novel research.
The “hell pigs,” known scientifically as Archaeotherium (“ancient beast” in Greek), constituted a group of swine-resembling organisms potentially as tall as humans when standing on their limbs and perhaps weighing in excess of 2,000 pounds (1,000 kilograms).
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“We can’t take for granted that they had similar habits,” Brynn Wooten, a doctoral candidate attending Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, conveyed to Live Science.
Wooten delivered preliminary results derived from her investigation Thursday (Nov. 13) during the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 2025 yearly conference. The discoveries have not yet been scrutinized by peers, seeing as Wooten and her team still need to finalize their work and furnish it to a publication.
Whale of a pig
Archaeotherium traversed throughout North America from roughly 37 million to 23 million years prior. In spite of their moderately porcine semblance, Archaeotherium possessed a closer lineage to whales and hippos in comparison to pigs. Their heads encompassed around 30% of their collective physique length (fluctuating amid varieties), but their undersized brains signified they were not the keenest entities amidst the Paleogenic period.
“Archaeotherium exhibits a brain-to-body mass proportion akin to that of reptiles, implying that they were exceptionally unintelligent entities,” Wooten commented. “Their heads were substantial, yet they housed minuscule cranial cavities.”
Researchers had earlier posited that Archaeotherium could have functioned as effective predators, scavengers and/or defoliators. Chomp indentations discovered on Poebrotherium fossils — petite camel descendants that formerly roamed North America — suggest that Archaeotherium may have preyed on Poebrotherium, storing portions of the remains for deferred consumption.
An Archaeotherium fossil exhibited during an auction within London during 2011. The image is used for illustrative purposes only; this fossil was not part of the present analysis.
In order to conduct the latest examination, Wooten together with Larisa DeSantis, an associate professor focusing on biological sciences at Vanderbilt University, scrutinized several Archaeotherium dentitions originating from diverse states, inclusive of Nebraska, South Dakota, Oregon in addition to Colorado. Through application of dental microwear texture examination, entailing the development of three-dimensional renderings depicting the tooth exterior by means of a high-powered microscope, they managed to assess disparities within the attrition between the varying Archaeotherium dentitions.
Generally, Archaeotherium bore resemblance to peccaries (pig-adjacent creatures native to the Americas), which mince their feed. Nevertheless, deterioration evident amongst larger-sized Archaeotherium was empirically indistinguishable from data acquired from lions plus hyenas, indicative of an organism that fractured its intake.
“It’s especially compelling that the sizable individuals could be shattering osseous structures,” DeSantis communicated to Live Science. “The smaller ones are incapable.”
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The crushing wear might imply that the larger species participated in increased scavenging behaviors, likely exploiting their tremendous stature to dislodge alternative predators from their catches, according to researcher speculation. Conversely, larger Archaeotherium could have been ingesting additional coarse vegetarian provisions, such as root crops or rough forage. Mellow vegetative alternatives catering to the smaller Archaeotherium could have involved foliage in addition to grasses.
Thus far, the dental scrutiny solely demonstrates textural traits exhibited amidst Archaeotherium victuals — rather than precisely which organisms were devoured. Wooten intends to investigate supplementary investigative modalities, encompassing calcium isotope examination, aimed at validating if osseous structures formed a constituent element amidst Archaeotherium’s nourishment.
Patrick PesterSocial Links NavigationTrending News Writer
Patrick Pester operates as the trending news scribe for Live Science. His body of work has been presented across other science-related websites, for example BBC Science Focus together with Scientific American. Patrick underwent retraining so as to function as a journalist subsequent to dedicating his early career engaging within zoos alongside wildlife conservation endeavors. He was awarded the Master’s Excellence Scholarship to study at Cardiff University wherein he secured a master’s degree centered upon international journalism. He similarly boasts a subsequent master’s qualification focused upon biodiversity, evolution in addition to conservation initiatives derived from Middlesex University London. During intervals where he refrains from composing news content, Patrick scrutinizes the trade encompassing human remnants.
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