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Description
Episode three, "Land of Giants", set in Mongolia 25 million years ago. Technically, it's supposed to be the Oligocene-Miocene boundary, which was likely done strategically (due to one knuckle-walker's questionable inclusion) but that has since been bumped up to 23 mya, so we are firmly in the middle Chattian.

This is the episode that stars the titan of the Oligocene, Paraceratherium (also known as Indricotherium, or for boomers, by its old, anglicized name, Baluchitherium), which is made up of three or more species (depending on who you ask). This is the first episode in WWB where its cast and premise, in broad strokes, still work and mainly need cosmetic updates, though it still has its fair share of issues, as it brings back anachronism, shrinkwrapping and even has the closest thing to a kaiju Liopleurodon in this series, and unfortunately, these issues aren't all science marching on, but also WW's more questionable practices rearing their ugly head. Still, the story is pretty solid, another favorite of mine for WWB, but it does have the issue of overfocusing on the main creature and neglecting the rest, something that will prevail for the rest of the series. And while nothing too detremential, almost every major element in this has things to critisize.

A) The episode is nominally set in the Hsanda Gol Formation, known for fossils of the massive Paraceratherium transouralicum (the largest and most iconic species of its genus) and a single ungual attributed to Hyaenodon gigas, which at the time was thought to represent the Chattian, but the aforementioned upper Paleogene land mammal age pushback in Central Asia led to its age being reinterpreted as lower Rupelian (following the Grande Coupure). Granted, the Late Oligocene age can still work (more on it later) but for Hsanda Gol specifically, only Paraceratherium, Hyaenodon and (via inference) Entelodon belong here, but not midsized bear-dogs or giant chalicotheres (both wouldn't be a thing for 10 million years).

For context, you could put the former 3 on the Eocene-Oligocene boundary (34 mya) together with the Embolotheirum from the last episode, and it would be far less far-fetched. On the upside, the arid environment shown here is consistent with what's known about Hsanda Gol's paleo-climate, while the underlying Houldjin Gravels represents a lusher, more humid and forested environment, and many large mammals found there (brontotheres, amynodonts, rhinocerotids, and entelodonts) are absent in Hsanda Gol, which mainly consists of small mammal fossils in addition to P. transouralicum. The overlying Loh Formation (Chattian) shows a return to milder climes and the first appearance of chalicotheres (schizotheriines) in the region.

B) The main star isn't too bad, but it might actually be behaving too much like modern rhinos. Experts like Donald Prothero (one of the consultants for the episode) later speculated that Paraceratherium might have traveled in herds, due to possibly having vast home ranges and thus low population density, stuck close to riverine valleys for food and water (some isotope analyses support that), avoided activity during the midday heat (possibly being nocturnal or crepuscular), and were migratory, always searching for enough vegetation to satisfy their enormous appetites in a seasonal world, essentially being more like an elephants than rhinos, due to occupying a similar niche to the former. Of course, in other parts of its range, like China, it would have inhabited less extreme habitats, like woody shrublands, so perhaps those populations/species acted more like rhinos, though elephant-like behavior is still plausible.

The giraffe-style necking might not be too reasonable either, as male animals had larger, tusk-like teeth and may have fought each other like bull Indian rhinos. The episode also claims a big male could reach 7 meters at the shoulder when 5 meters is more reasonable (that's WW for ya). And of course, the episodes cites it as the largest land mammal ever, more outdated "evolution creates record-holders" stuff, when several later proboscideans defiantly rivaled it in size, though paraceratheres are the oldest known land mammals to reach our kin's max size limit. And then there is the naming issue. The episode just calls it an "indricothere", which was undoubtedly done due to the taxonomic confusion still prevalent at the time, with a 1989 study having first synonymized all the other names with Paraceratherium, and the whole issue mainly existed due to geopolitics preventing Western, Soviet and Chinese paleontologists from communicating and comparing their finds.

Paraceratherium and Baluchitherium were both named by British workers based on very incomplete finds from the Chitarwata Formation in Pakistan, while Russians later named Indricotherium transouralicum based on a headless skeleton found in the Aral Formation of Kazakstan, and finally, Americans described Baluchitherium grangeri based on well-preserved skull material and partial postcrania from Hsanda Gol, the last species being endorsed and made famous by Henry Fairfield Osborn. B. grangeri was then synonymized with I. transouralicum and the latter was subsequently sunk into Paraceratherium. The number of accepted species is still debated, but for the sake of simplicity, we have P. transouralicum from the Rupelian of Central Asia (Hsand Gol, Aral), and the younger, Chattian-aged P. bugtiense from Chitarwata (the type species) and the recently named P. linxiaense from the Jiaozigou Formation in Gansu, China, which shows that these giants existed for the entire Oligocene epoch and ranged all across Asia, possibly even Eastern Europe.

C) The identity of the entelodont is messy, and I've talked about it here , but overall, while its behavior is accurate, including the jaw-wrestling based on various skulls found in America sporting bite marks made in intraspecific combat, the design leaves a lot to be desired. The WWB entelodont is a rare example of shrinkwrapping for a fossil mammal, as its head looks like someone just draped skin over the bare skull, when in reality, there would have been more flesh on i t, though to which extent is uncertain , and it also has an unusually short back, though the lack of hair at least makes sense for a bison-sized animal living in an arid environment. But the portrayal of the entelodont also veers too much into awesomebro territory, as it's mostly shown roaring at the top of its lungs, fighting and being scary, rarely engaging in more placid behavior. And as mentioned with Andrewsarchus, entelodonts are no longer thought to be members of Suina, but rather Cetancodontamorpha, which includes whales and hippos (the latter having the same kind of brutal agonistic behavior), making fun monikers like "hell hogs" or "killer warthogs" obsolete.

As for entelodonts coexisting with Paraceratheirum, it's actually very well supported! Though Entelodon fossils in Asia mainly come from the Priabonian (such as teeth and jaw material of E. dirus from Houldjin), there are some from the Rupelian, not Hsanda Gol specifically but from Kazakhstan, which include teeth from Aral and more notably, Entelodon major from the Kutanbulak Formation, by far the most complete species of its genus in Asia, with a skull 80 cm long . Going into the Chattian, we find the larger Paraentelodon, who is often found alongside Paraceratheirum, known from fragmentary remains from Georgia, along with Chitarwata and Jiaozigou, as well as a jawbone from the Aktau Formation of Kazakhstan . Its huge size and reduced cheek flanges, as well as its age, actually make it a perfect fit for the WWB entelodont, though it also had bigger knobs on its jaw and more recently, far more extensive, though undescribed/understudied material has been recovered from the Jiaozigou Formation, showing that this species was more derived than initially thought (having a more hippo-like skull ).

D) Then we have Hyaenodon, the only animal to be properly credited in the episode, which is a bit ironic. As I've talked about before , though we have some decent skeletal material from North America and some alright skull material from Europe, Asian Hyaenodon are mostly an enigma, with only Hyaenodon macrocephalus being known from good material. Other Hyaenodon fossils from Central Asia are supremely scrappy, which includes the semi-famous Hyaenodon gigas. The species was first described from large teeth and jaw and maxilla fragments found at Ergilin Dzo , with additional scraps such as a mandibular fragment from Houldjin, and the aforementioned ungual from Hsanda Gol. The latter does have a number of Hyaenodon fossils of varying size ranges, but like with Ergilin Dzo, they are very fragmentary, with the wolf-sized H. pervagus being the best represented (which isn't saying much). Furthermore, though very enigmatic, very large Hyaenodon seem to have been another common neighbor of Paraceratheirum, with evidence of them being found at Jiaozigou (referred to as "Megalopterodon", not much info on it) and even one relict species known from teeth stemming from the Early Miocene Xianshuihe Formation (H. weilini).

On the positive side, WWB's Hyaenodon has a very accurate design, emphasizing the animal's oversized head and stocky build, though it's also guilty of some shrinkwrapping, giving it a saber-toothed look as a result. Based on other species like H. horridus, Hyaenodon did have very large canines but they would have been tucked behind its limps and frankly, this is the only depiction I can think of that shows them sticking out. But the more glaring issue with this depiction is that it is tremendously oversized. Though very fragmentary, H. gigas is typically reconstructed as being the size of a tiger or slightly larger , with a skull speculated to have been 50-55 cm long, but here it's shown as a 1.7-meter tall hellhound with a head close to a meter long, rivaling Andrewsarchus in terms of size. While hyaenodonts have often been subjected to exaggerated size estimates due to their disproportionally large heads, I have never seen H. gigas being claimed to be this massive. Most other big hyaenodonts (Hemipsalodon, Hyainailouros, Simbakubwa) fall within the same general size range , and the only one to come close to WWB's depiction in terms of scale is the African, Mid Miocene Megistotherium osteothlastes , who has a skull 66.5 cm long and an estimated weights of 500-700 kg.

On a story-related note, Hyaenodon is also criminally underused, though at least it has moments to shine early on. After making a strong impression with its first scene, a very clear homage to spotted hyenas stalking giraffes in labor and trying to steal their newborn, and later being shown killing a chalicothere before being driven off by the entelodonts, but then it just peters out, with its last scene showing it slipping in a puddle XD Most of the other creatures suffer a similar fate and it bugged me even as a kid.

F) Next we have the chalicothere, whose identity is also pretty messy , but it's clear that it was based on the large and well-known Chalicotherium goldfussi from Europe and Chalicotherium brevirostris from Inner Mongolia, but both of those animals are from the Upper Miocene, with the oldest reliable evidence of the genus (possibly C. brevirostris) coming from the Mid Miocene Jiulongkou Formation in China, nearly 10 million years after the setting of this episode. The idea that the genus existed further back into the very Early Miocene (hence the 25 mya date) is largely based on wastebasket taxonomy, on fragmentary species like "Chalicotheirum" pilgrimi from Pakistan and "Chalicotherium" wetzleri from Europe, but these animals are basically undiagnostic and could very well be schizotheriines. Even if these were proper chalicotheriines (the oldest confirmed one is the Lower Miocene African Winamia), they are still much smaller and more basal taxa, not the imposing giant we see here (that's how evolution typically works). Though speaking of giantism, here, it's said to stand nearly 3 meters tall, but at its largest, Chalicotherium was just a little over 2 meters (WW folks XD).

It's important to note that chalicotheres represent two very distinct subgroups; the slope-backed, knuckle-walking chalicotheriines, who sported huge front limbs and formidable claws, and the schizotheriines, who had more normal proportions for an ungulate and didn't walk on their knuckles (though they still had claws). Perhaps unsurprisingly, schizotheriines seem to have appeared first, with the small and very basal Schizotherium being known from teeth and various fragmentary remains across the Oligocene of Eurasia, even being found alongside Paraceratheirum in Kazakstan (S. turgaicum), but by the very end of the Oligocene, we saw the rise of much larger schizotheriines and some of the largest chalicotheres ever; the famous American Moropus, the largest of its family, and slightly smaller Borissiakia from Kazakhstan.

By all accounts, Borissiakia should have been the chalicothere in "Land of Giants", as it was not only a gian t, but it's also known from pretty good material (unlike the so-called early Chalicotheirum species) and it too has novel features, namely a very long neck. If Chalicotherium and its closest kin are gorilla-horses, then Borissiakia is a sloth-giraffe. Now, I hate to be overly negative but WWB did chalicotheres dirty, by not only relegating these magnificently weird mammals to background fodder and predator fodder, but they once more turned a blind eye on paleontological accuracy by finagling a large, derived Chalicotheirum into this episode, when they really should have used Borissiakia, and this choice will have repercussions in the next episode. At least Chalicotheirum, like Hyaenodon, has a very accurate design, and the panda-like facial markings are a nice touch. Too bad it wasn't shown doing anything other than stroll, browse, and get killed.

G) And lastly, we have the bear-dog, Cynodictis according to the 2005 tie-in book , but other sources just call it an amphicyonid. Like the entelodont, its identity is quite a mess, and it lacks meaningful screentime, not unlike the last two beasts. That said, if it's meant to be Cynodictis, this raises some issues/questions. Firstly, Cynodictis refers to small, fox-sized critters (5-12 kg) but the bear-dog shown in the episode is midsized at least (which wouldn't have been a thing yet in the Oligocene), and secondly, Cynodictis has a rather turbulent taxonomic history, in more ways than one.

Though often called a basal amphicyonid, other workers have identified it as a basal canid (a true dog), though recent studies seem to support the former classification. Secondly, it's only conclusively known from Western Europe, most of all the Quercy Phosphorites Formation in France, a notable Oligocene fossil site whose fauna includes Entelodon, Hyaenodon, Antracotherium, Schizotherium, the last Palaeotherium, and giant nimravids (Eofelis and Quercylurus), to name a few, but also numerous specimens of Cynodictis, with additional fossils being reported from Germany and Britain. The presence of the genus in Asia, however, is largely based on fragmentary material, including some from Hsanda Gol, but in recent years, most have dismissed them as Cynodictis (like "C. mongoliensis" from Hsanda Gol) and think they represent other caniforms, some of which have been synonymized with Amphicynodon, who has traditionally been called an early bear but might actually be a stem-pinniped. Adding to the wastebasket taxonomy, the genus has also been reported from North America, like "Cynodictis angustidens", based on a jaw fragment (you can see the issue), and some have synonymized the tree-climbing "dawn dog" Hesprocyon gregarius with it, calling it Cynodictis gregarius instead (which obvioulsy didn't stick).

This is understandable, as both Cynodictis and Amphicynodon are very small and basal taxa, so it's hard to determine which caniform lineage these and similar Oligocene animals represent. With the dawn of the Miocene and entelodonts and hyaenodonts going into decline, bear-dogs quickly flourished and as far back as 23-20 mya, we start seeing cougar-sized animals , such as Ysengrinia, based on scrappy material from Eurasia but it's also known from much better remains in North America, including Agate Spring (Y. americana). This does line up with the idea of "Land of Giant" being set on the Oligocene-Miocene boundary, as a means to squeeze in Miocene creatures like derived chalicotheres, and there is a larger form at Quercy, Pseudocyonopsis, which might have weighed 30 kg, comparable to an African wild dog, so there is some truth to WWB's bear-dog.

Pew...this one went on for a while, but I had to go for a deep dive, since many of these taxa/groups are criminally under-discussed and this is the first WWB episode where many of the animals are included in the episode based on dodgy and fragmentary evidence, further marred by most not being clearly identified. On the bright side, this is the first episode where one could do an update without outright jettisoning any of the taxonomic groups featured in the original. Of course, since the fossil record of Oligocene Asia is hardly stellar, I can't cite one singular formation that has all the required characters in it, though Jiaozigou would be the closest one.

It's not ideal, but my updated "Land of Giants" would nominally be based on Jiaozigou , set in China and (again) on the Oligocene-Miocene boundary (23 mya); featuring Paraceratherium, Paraentelodon and Borissiakia, along with a 300-kg Asiatic Hyaenodon, the latter being speculative but not unfounded (since Asia seems to have been a hot spot for these scissor-toothed giants for 15 million years) and an indeterminate species of Ysengrinia, the mixed cast representing the transiton from the Paleogene into the Neogene, a time when dying races (paraceratheres, entelodonts, hyaenodonts) were mixing with new upstarts in the mammalian kingdom (chalicotheres, amphicyonids), and a compromise for WWB not having a Miocene-centric episode, which was a huge missed opportunity, given that this was the peak of mammalian diversity.

But anyway, WWB has now covered the Paleogene, including the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum, the Grande Coupure, and the dawn of the Miocene, but now it will skip over most of the Neogene in order to focus on three episodes set within the last 3 million years of Earth's history. Surely those last three episodes set in the recent past can't have many issues? Actually, they can...but not really "Next of Kin" XD

Description
Episode three, "Land of Giants", set in Mongolia 25 million years ago. Technically, it's supposed to be the Oligocene-Miocene boundary, which was likely done strategically (due to one knuckle-walker's questionable inclusion) but that has since been bumped up to 23 mya, so we are firmly in the middle Chattian.

This is the episode that stars the titan of the Oligocene, Paraceratherium (also known as Indricotherium, or for boomers, by its old, anglicized name, Baluchitherium), which is made up of three or more species (depending on who you ask). This is the first episode in WWB where its cast and premise, in broad strokes, still work and mainly need cosmetic updates, though it still has its fair share of issues, as it brings back anachronism, shrinkwrapping and even has the closest thing to a kaiju Liopleurodon in this series, and unfortunately, these issues aren't all science marching on, but also WW's more questionable practices rearing their ugly head. Still, the story is pretty solid, another favorite of mine for WWB, but it does have the issue of overfocusing on the main creature and neglecting the rest, something that will prevail for the rest of the series. And while nothing too detremential, almost every major element in this has things to critisize.

A) The episode is nominally set in the Hsanda Gol Formation, known for fossils of the massive Paraceratherium transouralicum (the largest and most iconic species of its genus) and a single ungual attributed to Hyaenodon gigas, which at the time was thought to represent the Chattian, but the aforementioned upper Paleogene land mammal age pushback in Central Asia led to its age being reinterpreted as lower Rupelian (following the Grande Coupure). Granted, the Late Oligocene age can still work (more on it later) but for Hsanda Gol specifically, only Paraceratherium, Hyaenodon and (via inference) Entelodon belong here, but not midsized bear-dogs or giant chalicotheres (both wouldn't be a thing for 10 million years).

For context, you could put the former 3 on the Eocene-Oligocene boundary (34 mya) together with the Embolotheirum from the last episode, and it would be far less far-fetched. On the upside, the arid environment shown here is consistent with what's known about Hsanda Gol's paleo-climate, while the underlying Houldjin Gravels represents a lusher, more humid and forested environment, and many large mammals found there (brontotheres, amynodonts, rhinocerotids, and entelodonts) are absent in Hsanda Gol, which mainly consists of small mammal fossils in addition to P. transouralicum. The overlying Loh Formation (Chattian) shows a return to milder climes and the first appearance of chalicotheres (schizotheriines) in the region.

B) The main star isn't too bad, but it might actually be behaving too much like modern rhinos. Experts like Donald Prothero (one of the consultants for the episode) later speculated that Paraceratherium might have traveled in herds, due to possibly having vast home ranges and thus low population density, stuck close to riverine valleys for food and water (some isotope analyses support that), avoided activity during the midday heat (possibly being nocturnal or crepuscular), and were migratory, always searching for enough vegetation to satisfy their enormous appetites in a seasonal world, essentially being more like an elephants than rhinos, due to occupying a similar niche to the former. Of course, in other parts of its range, like China, it would have inhabited less extreme habitats, like woody shrublands, so perhaps those populations/species acted more like rhinos, though elephant-like behavior is still plausible.

The giraffe-style necking might not be too reasonable either, as male animals had larger, tusk-like teeth and may have fought each other like bull Indian rhinos. The episode also claims a big male could reach 7 meters at the shoulder when 5 meters is more reasonable (that's WW for ya). And of course, the episodes cites it as the largest land mammal ever, more outdated "evolution creates record-holders" stuff, when several later proboscideans defiantly rivaled it in size, though paraceratheres are the oldest known land mammals to reach our kin's max size limit. And then there is the naming issue. The episode just calls it an "indricothere", which was undoubtedly done due to the taxonomic confusion still prevalent at the time, with a 1989 study having first synonymized all the other names with Paraceratherium, and the whole issue mainly existed due to geopolitics preventing Western, Soviet and Chinese paleontologists from communicating and comparing their finds.

Paraceratherium and Baluchitherium were both named by British workers based on very incomplete finds from the Chitarwata Formation in Pakistan, while Russians later named Indricotherium transouralicum based on a headless skeleton found in the Aral Formation of Kazakstan, and finally, Americans described Baluchitherium grangeri based on well-preserved skull material and partial postcrania from Hsanda Gol, the last species being endorsed and made famous by Henry Fairfield Osborn. B. grangeri was then synonymized with I. transouralicum and the latter was subsequently sunk into Paraceratherium. The number of accepted species is still debated, but for the sake of simplicity, we have P. transouralicum from the Rupelian of Central Asia (Hsand Gol, Aral), and the younger, Chattian-aged P. bugtiense from Chitarwata (the type species) and the recently named P. linxiaense from the Jiaozigou Formation in Gansu, China, which shows that these giants existed for the entire Oligocene epoch and ranged all across Asia, possibly even Eastern Europe.

C) The identity of the entelodont is messy, and I've talked about it here , but overall, while its behavior is accurate, including the jaw-wrestling based on various skulls found in America sporting bite marks made in intraspecific combat, the design leaves a lot to be desired. The WWB entelodont is a rare example of shrinkwrapping for a fossil mammal, as its head looks like someone just draped skin over the bare skull, when in reality, there would have been more flesh on i t, though to which extent is uncertain , and it also has an unusually short back, though the lack of hair at least makes sense for a bison-sized animal living in an arid environment. But the portrayal of the entelodont also veers too much into awesomebro territory, as it's mostly shown roaring at the top of its lungs, fighting and being scary, rarely engaging in more placid behavior. And as mentioned with Andrewsarchus, entelodonts are no longer thought to be members of Suina, but rather Cetancodontamorpha, which includes whales and hippos (the latter having the same kind of brutal agonistic behavior), making fun monikers like "hell hogs" or "killer warthogs" obsolete.

As for entelodonts coexisting with Paraceratheirum, it's actually very well supported! Though Entelodon fossils in Asia mainly come from the Priabonian (such as teeth and jaw material of E. dirus from Houldjin), there are some from the Rupelian, not Hsanda Gol specifically but from Kazakhstan, which include teeth from Aral and more notably, Entelodon major from the Kutanbulak Formation, by far the most complete species of its genus in Asia, with a skull 80 cm long . Going into the Chattian, we find the larger Paraentelodon, who is often found alongside Paraceratheirum, known from fragmentary remains from Georgia, along with Chitarwata and Jiaozigou, as well as a jawbone from the Aktau Formation of Kazakhstan . Its huge size and reduced cheek flanges, as well as its age, actually make it a perfect fit for the WWB entelodont, though it also had bigger knobs on its jaw and more recently, far more extensive, though undescribed/understudied material has been recovered from the Jiaozigou Formation, showing that this species was more derived than initially thought (having a more hippo-like skull ).

D) Then we have Hyaenodon, the only animal to be properly credited in the episode, which is a bit ironic. As I've talked about before , though we have some decent skeletal material from North America and some alright skull material from Europe, Asian Hyaenodon are mostly an enigma, with only Hyaenodon macrocephalus being known from good material. Other Hyaenodon fossils from Central Asia are supremely scrappy, which includes the semi-famous Hyaenodon gigas. The species was first described from large teeth and jaw and maxilla fragments found at Ergilin Dzo , with additional scraps such as a mandibular fragment from Houldjin, and the aforementioned ungual from Hsanda Gol. The latter does have a number of Hyaenodon fossils of varying size ranges, but like with Ergilin Dzo, they are very fragmentary, with the wolf-sized H. pervagus being the best represented (which isn't saying much). Furthermore, though very enigmatic, very large Hyaenodon seem to have been another common neighbor of Paraceratheirum, with evidence of them being found at Jiaozigou (referred to as "Megalopterodon", not much info on it) and even one relict species known from teeth stemming from the Early Miocene Xianshuihe Formation (H. weilini).

On the positive side, WWB's Hyaenodon has a very accurate design, emphasizing the animal's oversized head and stocky build, though it's also guilty of some shrinkwrapping, giving it a saber-toothed look as a result. Based on other species like H. horridus, Hyaenodon did have very large canines but they would have been tucked behind its limps and frankly, this is the only depiction I can think of that shows them sticking out. But the more glaring issue with this depiction is that it is tremendously oversized. Though very fragmentary, H. gigas is typically reconstructed as being the size of a tiger or slightly larger , with a skull speculated to have been 50-55 cm long, but here it's shown as a 1.7-meter tall hellhound with a head close to a meter long, rivaling Andrewsarchus in terms of size. While hyaenodonts have often been subjected to exaggerated size estimates due to their disproportionally large heads, I have never seen H. gigas being claimed to be this massive. Most other big hyaenodonts (Hemipsalodon, Hyainailouros, Simbakubwa) fall within the same general size range , and the only one to come close to WWB's depiction in terms of scale is the African, Mid Miocene Megistotherium osteothlastes , who has a skull 66.5 cm long and an estimated weights of 500-700 kg.

On a story-related note, Hyaenodon is also criminally underused, though at least it has moments to shine early on. After making a strong impression with its first scene, a very clear homage to spotted hyenas stalking giraffes in labor and trying to steal their newborn, and later being shown killing a chalicothere before being driven off by the entelodonts, but then it just peters out, with its last scene showing it slipping in a puddle XD Most of the other creatures suffer a similar fate and it bugged me even as a kid.

F) Next we have the chalicothere, whose identity is also pretty messy , but it's clear that it was based on the large and well-known Chalicotherium goldfussi from Europe and Chalicotherium brevirostris from Inner Mongolia, but both of those animals are from the Upper Miocene, with the oldest reliable evidence of the genus (possibly C. brevirostris) coming from the Mid Miocene Jiulongkou Formation in China, nearly 10 million years after the setting of this episode. The idea that the genus existed further back into the very Early Miocene (hence the 25 mya date) is largely based on wastebasket taxonomy, on fragmentary species like "Chalicotheirum" pilgrimi from Pakistan and "Chalicotherium" wetzleri from Europe, but these animals are basically undiagnostic and could very well be schizotheriines. Even if these were proper chalicotheriines (the oldest confirmed one is the Lower Miocene African Winamia), they are still much smaller and more basal taxa, not the imposing giant we see here (that's how evolution typically works). Though speaking of giantism, here, it's said to stand nearly 3 meters tall, but at its largest, Chalicotherium was just a little over 2 meters (WW folks XD).

It's important to note that chalicotheres represent two very distinct subgroups; the slope-backed, knuckle-walking chalicotheriines, who sported huge front limbs and formidable claws, and the schizotheriines, who had more normal proportions for an ungulate and didn't walk on their knuckles (though they still had claws). Perhaps unsurprisingly, schizotheriines seem to have appeared first, with the small and very basal Schizotherium being known from teeth and various fragmentary remains across the Oligocene of Eurasia, even being found alongside Paraceratheirum in Kazakstan (S. turgaicum), but by the very end of the Oligocene, we saw the rise of much larger schizotheriines and some of the largest chalicotheres ever; the famous American Moropus, the largest of its family, and slightly smaller Borissiakia from Kazakhstan.

By all accounts, Borissiakia should have been the chalicothere in "Land of Giants", as it was not only a gian t, but it's also known from pretty good material (unlike the so-called early Chalicotheirum species) and it too has novel features, namely a very long neck. If Chalicotherium and its closest kin are gorilla-horses, then Borissiakia is a sloth-giraffe. Now, I hate to be overly negative but WWB did chalicotheres dirty, by not only relegating these magnificently weird mammals to background fodder and predator fodder, but they once more turned a blind eye on paleontological accuracy by finagling a large, derived Chalicotheirum into this episode, when they really should have used Borissiakia, and this choice will have repercussions in the next episode. At least Chalicotheirum, like Hyaenodon, has a very accurate design, and the panda-like facial markings are a nice touch. Too bad it wasn't shown doing anything other than stroll, browse, and get killed.

G) And lastly, we have the bear-dog, Cynodictis according to the 2005 tie-in book , but other sources just call it an amphicyonid. Like the entelodont, its identity is quite a mess, and it lacks meaningful screentime, not unlike the last two beasts. That said, if it's meant to be Cynodictis, this raises some issues/questions. Firstly, Cynodictis refers to small, fox-sized critters (5-12 kg) but the bear-dog shown in the episode is midsized at least (which wouldn't have been a thing yet in the Oligocene), and secondly, Cynodictis has a rather turbulent taxonomic history, in more ways than one.

Though often called a basal amphicyonid, other workers have identified it as a basal canid (a true dog), though recent studies seem to support the former classification. Secondly, it's only conclusively known from Western Europe, most of all the Quercy Phosphorites Formation in France, a notable Oligocene fossil site whose fauna includes Entelodon, Hyaenodon, Antracotherium, Schizotherium, the last Palaeotherium, and giant nimravids (Eofelis and Quercylurus), to name a few, but also numerous specimens of Cynodictis, with additional fossils being reported from Germany and Britain. The presence of the genus in Asia, however, is largely based on fragmentary material, including some from Hsanda Gol, but in recent years, most have dismissed them as Cynodictis (like "C. mongoliensis" from Hsanda Gol) and think they represent other caniforms, some of which have been synonymized with Amphicynodon, who has traditionally been called an early bear but might actually be a stem-pinniped. Adding to the wastebasket taxonomy, the genus has also been reported from North America, like "Cynodictis angustidens", based on a jaw fragment (you can see the issue), and some have synonymized the tree-climbing "dawn dog" Hesprocyon gregarius with it, calling it Cynodictis gregarius instead (which obvioulsy didn't stick).

This is understandable, as both Cynodictis and Amphicynodon are very small and basal taxa, so it's hard to determine which caniform lineage these and similar Oligocene animals represent. With the dawn of the Miocene and entelodonts and hyaenodonts going into decline, bear-dogs quickly flourished and as far back as 23-20 mya, we start seeing cougar-sized animals , such as Ysengrinia, based on scrappy material from Eurasia but it's also known from much better remains in North America, including Agate Spring (Y. americana). This does line up with the idea of "Land of Giant" being set on the Oligocene-Miocene boundary, as a means to squeeze in Miocene creatures like derived chalicotheres, and there is a larger form at Quercy, Pseudocyonopsis, which might have weighed 30 kg, comparable to an African wild dog, so there is some truth to WWB's bear-dog.

Pew...this one went on for a while, but I had to go for a deep dive, since many of these taxa/groups are criminally under-discussed and this is the first WWB episode where many of the animals are included in the episode based on dodgy and fragmentary evidence, further marred by most not being clearly identified. On the bright side, this is the first episode where one could do an update without outright jettisoning any of the taxonomic groups featured in the original. Of course, since the fossil record of Oligocene Asia is hardly stellar, I can't cite one singular formation that has all the required characters in it, though Jiaozigou would be the closest one.

It's not ideal, but my updated "Land of Giants" would nominally be based on Jiaozigou , set in China and (again) on the Oligocene-Miocene boundary (23 mya); featuring Paraceratherium, Paraentelodon and Borissiakia, along with a 300-kg Asiatic Hyaenodon, the latter being speculative but not unfounded (since Asia seems to have been a hot spot for these scissor-toothed giants for 15 million years) and an indeterminate species of Ysengrinia, the mixed cast representing the transiton from the Paleogene into the Neogene, a time when dying races (paraceratheres, entelodonts, hyaenodonts) were mixing with new upstarts in the mammalian kingdom (chalicotheres, amphicyonids), and a compromise for WWB not having a Miocene-centric episode, which was a huge missed opportunity, given that this was the peak of mammalian diversity.

But anyway, WWB has now covered the Paleogene, including the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum, the Grande Coupure, and the dawn of the Miocene, but now it will skip over most of the Neogene in order to focus on three episodes set within the last 3 million years of Earth's history. Surely those last three episodes set in the recent past can't have many issues? Actually, they can...but not really "Next of Kin" XD