The first big mammalian herbivores
Pantodonts and taeniodonts reach the size of sheep, then bears — bulk no mammal had managed before.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 7 million years
- Known to
- ± 1 million years
- Era
- Paleocene, Cenozoic
Within a few million years of the extinction, mammals begin doing something they had never been able to do: get large. Pantodonts such as Barylambda and later Coryphodon reach several hundred kilograms, hippo-like in build and probably in habit, while taeniodonts evolve massive forelimbs and ever-growing teeth for digging up roots. None of these groups survives past the middle Eocene. They are the first draft of large mammalian herbivory, drawn quickly to fill a vacancy and later replaced by better designs.