Study Finds 53 Hell Pig Teeth Reveal Size-Driven Diet Split

1 articles · Updated · Cowboy State Daily · Jun 27

Dental microwear on 53 teeth from 13 Archaeotherium species showed a clear diet split: smaller hell pigs ate tougher, flesh-heavy food, while larger ones consumed a broader mix including harder items.
Brynn Wooten compared fossil tooth textures with modern animals and found some large-bodied specimens wore teeth like hyenas, while smaller-bodied ones resembled cheetahs—reversing the pattern usually seen in living mammals.
The analysis suggests the divide tracked species size rather than age, challenging the long-held assumption that these prehistoric mammals were simply pig-like omnivores.
Wooten said the pattern could reflect behavior such as kleptoparasitism, with larger hell pigs potentially displacing smaller hunters from kills, though she said more evidence is needed.
Hell pigs ranged across North America, Europe and Asia from 36 million to 19 million years ago; Wooten plans stable-isotope work next to refine whether different species were mainly carnivorous or more generalist feeders.