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New 'hypercarnivore' was savage beast that could have hunted rhinos 40m years ago

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hypercarnivore' which could have hunted rhinos more than 40million years ago has been discovered by experts.Amazingly, the until-now unknown sabre-tooth predator has been identified thanks to a fossil found by a Californian 12-year-old in 1988.Analysis of it's jaw and 3D modelling were used to work out exactly what it was.

The savage beast belongs to a mysterious group of animals called Machaeroidines and has officially been named Diegoaelurus vanvalkenburghae.

The cat-like mammal would have roamed forests using its gigantic gnashers to consume an all-meat diet.It is so ancient that it isn't even closely related to any animals we know today.

Dr Shawn Zack from the University of Arizona College of Medicine explained: "We know so little about Machaeroidines, so every new discovery greatly expands our picture of them."This relatively complete, well-preserved Diegoaelurus fossil is especially useful because the teeth let us infer the diet and start to understand how Machaeroidines are related to each other."Machaeroidines are thought to be the oldest sabre-toothed mammalian carnivores, and only 14 fossil specimens have ever been found.Dr Ashley Poust, a co-author of the new species' description, said: "One big advance was to evolve specialised teeth for slicing flesh, which is something we see in this newly described specimen.

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