Description

The Oreodonta is an extinct suborder of mammal in Order Artiodactyla, and therefore distantly related to pigs, hogs, camels, hippopotamuses, and the pig-like peccaries.  Over 50 species of Oreodonta have been described. They first appeared some 50 million years ago during the warm Eocene and were widely prevalent during the Oligocene in the grasslands, prairies or savannas of what is now the North American badlands.  Today, fossil jaws and teeth of the Oreodonta are commonly found in the White River badlands in South Dakota, Nebraska, and Wyoming.  Oreodonts are Artiodactyls, even toed ungulates, sometimes called a cross between a pig and a sheep. Note that they have both large canine front teeth, but also molars for chewing plants.  They were herding animals and grazers, eating mostly grasses.  They averaged three to four feet long.