Oreodont Skull

Oreodont skull, Oligocene era, White River Formation South Dakota. Oreodont remains are among the most commonly found mammal bones in the White River Formation. I like this skull, even though not fully complete, because the bone is in very good condition, considering it's age of about 30 million years. Specimens are typically crushed with countless fractures in the bone.

The oreodont was a browser, plant eater which ate the leaves and branches of shrubs and trees. They lived in herds which may have been large considering how commonly their bones are found throughout the White River Oligocene formation.

Learning more about the mammals of that era I noticed the teeth of the oreodont are almost identical to deer teeth. An interesting observation since the usual description of the animal referrs to it as "pig like". Pig teeth look nothing like oreodont teeth. Wonder how paleontologist missed this obvious fact for so long? Now some texts use the term "camel like" or "distant relative of the camel" which makes more sense.