This massive extinct otter may have had a bone-crushing bite
The scientific term for crunching hard-shelled creatures to death in your teeth before swallowing them is called “oral-crushing durophagy” — and a massive, extinct otter called Siamogale melilutra may have been a champion at it.
The giant otter was the size of a small human, weighing in at more than 110 pounds when it roamed southwest China six million years ago, National Geographic reports. But don’t imagine that this was a cuddly fuzzball: this ancient otter’s bite, described Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports, was probably more powerful than that of any otter species alive.
Continue reading…