Pliocrocuta fossil map
Where fossils of Pliocrocuta have been found, shown on the Earth as it looked about 5 million years ago and on today’s map.
Dots are fossil collections recorded in the Paleobiology Database. The “then” view moves today’s fossil sites back to their positions 5 million years ago (the time slice nearest the median age of the fossils) using the Merdith et al. (2021) plate model; positions are approximate. Open on the timeline map →
| Group | Early mammals |
|---|---|
| Lived | 5.333–0.0117 million years ago (Zanclean to Late Pleistocene) |
| Periods | Neogene, Quaternary |
| Family | Hyaenidae |
| Named by | Kretzoi 1938 |
| Fossil records | 46 occurrences at 19 locations (PBDB) |
| Found in | France, Russia, Morocco, Germany, Tajikistan, Czech Republic, Türkiye, Romania, Slovakia, Spain … |
| Rock formations | txn:41020, Khapry, C1/LR, Kuruksai suite |
About Pliocrocuta
Pliocrocuta is an extinct genus of hyena. It contains the species Pliocrocuta perrieri, known from the Pliocene to Early Pleistocene of Eurasia and possibly Africa. It is possibly ancestral to Pachycrocuta, with some authors including P. perrieri within Pachycrocuta. It is largely known from cranial remains. The species is estimated to have weighed around 56 kilograms (123 lb) on average, with its skull showing evidence for adaptation to bone cracking. It may have been solitary, unlike living bone cracking spotted hyenas.
P. perrieri first appeared during the Pliocene, around 4.2 million years ago. In the earliest Pleistocene (2.6-2 million years ago) of Europe, Pliocrocuta lived alongside the fellow hyena Chasmaporthetes, the sabertooth cats Megantereon and Homotherium, the giant cheetah Acinonyx pardinensis, the cougar-relative Puma pardoides, the primitive lynx Lynx issiodorensis, the bear Ursus etruscus, and the wild dog Xenocyon falconeri. Pliocrocuta became extinct in Europe around 2 million years ago as part of a major faunal turnover event where many European animals became extinct and were replaced by immigrants from elsewhere, with Pliocrocuta being replaced by Pachycrocuta in this transition.
Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Pliocrocuta (revision 1307796248), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; introduction excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Ages, family, authority and fossil records: Paleobiology Database, accessed 23 October 2026. Ages are those of the rock layers the fossils were found in. Wikidata: Q28647726.
