The Andrewsarchus (Andrewsarchus mongoliensis) is one of the largest carnivorous land
mammals ever discovered, an Eocene predator from the Irdin Manha Formation of Inner
Mongolia known from a single enormous skull - over 80 centimetres long, larger than any
other meat-eating land mammal skull. Despite its wolf-like profile it was closer kin to
hoofed mammals (ungulates), and it prowled the coasts and floodplains of ancient Asia
some 45 million years ago, likely scavenging whale-fall carcasses, hunting brontothere
calves and rooting for shellfish on the shoreline. Its fossil has been recovered from
tar deposits, like other Cenozoic mammals.
