The carnivorans appear
Small tree-climbing miacids give rise to every cat, dog, bear, seal and weasel alive today.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 16 million years
- Known to
- ± 2 million years
- Era
- Eocene, Cenozoic
Miacids are marten-like forest animals with the defining carnivoran innovation already present: a pair of blade-like carnassial teeth formed from the last upper premolar and first lower molar, shearing past each other like scissors. That one arrangement, retained across the order, proves adaptable enough to serve cats, dogs, bears, hyenas, weasels and seals. Through the Eocene they remain small and secondary to the creodonts; their expansion into large predator roles comes afterwards.