Sunkahetanka is an extinct genus of small bone crushing omnivorous mammal

Mammal

Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...

 similar to a dog

Dog

The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...

 of the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Canidae

Canidae

Canidae is the biological family of carnivorous and omnivorous mammals that includes wolves, foxes, jackals, coyotes, and domestic dogs. A member of this family is called a canid . The Canidae family is divided into two tribes: Canini and Vulpini...

) which inhabited North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

  during the Oligocene

Oligocene

The Oligocene is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 34 million to 23 million years before the present . As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the period are slightly...

 living from 30.8—26.3 Ma and existed for approximately .

Taxonomy

Philotrox was named by Macdonald (1963). It was synonymized subjectively with Enhydrocyon by Swisher (1982); it was revalidated by Carroll (1988), Wang (1994) and Wang and Tedford (1996). It was assigned to Canidae by Macdonald (1963), Carroll (1988), Wang (1994) and Wang and Tedford (1996).

Morphology

Two specimens were examined by Legendre and Roth for body mass. The first specimen was estimated to weigh 12.8 kg (28.2 lb). The second specimen was estimated to weigh 13.8 kg (30.4 lb).