or that it was social and would feed in a competitive, frenzied manner in order to eat as much as other members of its family group. Perhaps a combination of both scenarios was possible. The most extensive selections of bones found for this genus come from B. loveorum and have allowed further inference to the proportions of other members of the genus. Paleobiology Growth and development The skeletons of juvenile Barbourofelis have been found, and examination of their skeletons indicates that the cubs would reach near-adult size before their milk sabers would begin to erupt. This indicates that they were dependent on their mother or potential family group until well into their second year. Such a long period of dependence would have likely led to situations in which near-adult cubs would have likely helped to restrain prey while their mother made the kill. Such behavior potentially was a foundation for more extensive social ties in later feliformes and felids. Paleoecology Barbourofelis loveorum's environment in the Love Bone Beds deposits (of Clarendonian Age) was a mixture of grassland, riverine forest, and marshes, in which it would have shared territory with herbivorous animals like the amphibious rhinoceros Teleoceras, the protoceratid Synthetoceras, the camel Aepycamelus, horses like Neohipparion and Nannippus, and carnivores like the machairodont cat Nimravides, the dogs Epicyon and Osteoborus, and the bear Agriotherium. During the following stage, the Hemphillian, Barbourofelis fricki shared territory with the machairodont species Amphimachairodus coloradensis. Both genera of machairodont, as well as the bear Agriotherium and the dogs Epicyon and Osteoborus would have presented competition to the barbourofelid, while any and all of the large animals present were potential prey species. References Miocene feliforms Barbourofelidae Miocene mammals of North America Pliocene mammals of North America Fossil taxa described in 1970 Prehistoric carnivoran genera