A giant lion with enormous fangs¹ that roamed the Kenyan savannah more than 20 million years ago was one of the largest ever meat-eating mammals, researchers said Thursday.

 

美国的古生物学家周四表示，一种长有超大尖牙、游荡在2000万年前肯尼亚大草原的巨型狮子，可能是史上最大的肉食哺乳类动物之一。
 

 

A U.S. team unearthed² the lower jaw³, teeth and other bones of a new species, Simbakubwa kutokaafrika -- Swahili for "big African lion".

 

They calculated it would have weighed up to 1,500 kilograms and could have preyed⁵ upon the elephant-like creatures that lived there at the time.

 

"Based on its massive teeth, Simbakubwa was a specialized⁶ hyper-carnivore that was significantly larger than the modern lion and possibly larger than a polar bear," said Matthew Borths, from Duke University, who co-led the research with Ohio University.

 

An artist's impression of the creature shows a giant big-cat-like hunter with stripey fur and enormous fangs.

 

The team behind the study, published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, said Simbakubwa lived in what is modern-day Kenya around 23 million years ago, a key period in the evolution of carnivorous mammals.

 

They said the discovery could shed light on how supersized predators⁷ and prey⁴ evolved over millions of years around the end of the Paleogene epoch⁸ -- the period where mammals grew from tiny rodents⁹ into many diverse species.

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