Enhydrocyon

{{Short description|Extinct genus of carnivores}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|Oligocene|Early Miocene}}

| image = A Lower Miocene fauna from South Dakota (1907) fig. 6.png

| image2 = Life reconstruction of the Canid Enhydrocyon Crassidens.png

| taxon = Enhydrocyon

| authority = Cope, 1879

| type_species = †Enhydrocyon stenocephalus

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = See text

| range_map = Enhydrocyon range.png

| range_map_caption = Range of Enhydrocyon fossil evidence

}}

Enhydrocyon is an extinct genus of bone crushing canid which inhabited North America during the Oligocene and Early Miocene, 30.8—20.4 Ma, existing for approximately {{Mya|31-20|million years}}.

[https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=41211] Enhydrocyon at fossilworks

Enhydrocyon{{'s}} dentition suggests this animal was a hypercarnivore or mesocarnivore.R. M. Nowak. 1991. Walker's Mammals of the World. Maryland, Johns Hopkins University Press (edited volume) II Species of Enhydrocyon were relatively large, powerfully built carnivores with a short snout and deep jaws reminiscent of a jaguar.David Macdonald. The Velvet Claw: A Natural History of the Carnivores. BBC Books: London; 1992. p83. These features give the skull a shape resembling that of the extant sea otter (Enhydra), prompting the scientific name. With an estimated weight of about {{convert|10|kg}}, this was the earliest genus of canid adapted to be specialized predators.{{cite book |last1= Wang |first1= Xiaoming | last2= Tedford | first2= Richard H. | date= 2008 |title= Dogs, Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History |publisher= Columbia |page= 27 |isbn= 978-0-231-13528-3}}