biology

Percrocuta

Percrocuta is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Percrocuta rather than just read about it. In short: Percrocuta is an extinct genus of percrocutid hyena. It lived in Eurasia and Africa, during the Miocene epoch.

Key takeaways

Percrocuta belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Percrocuta to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Percrocuta from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Percrocuta is an extinct genus of percrocutid hyena. It lived in Eurasia and Africa, during the Miocene epoch.

Description With a maximum length of 1.50 m (5 ft), Percrocuta was much bigger than its modern relatives. Like the spotted hyena, it had a robust skull and powerful jaws. Similar to modern hyaenids, its hind legs were shorter than the front legs, resulting in a characteristic sloping back. However, not all species were larger than modern hyenas. P. xixiaensis is described to being close to size of the striped hyena. The zygomatic arch of this species was slender a hyena its size suggesting the cranium isn’t as strongly built was other bone crushing hyenas such as Dinocrocuta, Pachycrocuta, striped hyena, Adcrocuta, and Crocuta. P. miocenia was estimated to have weighed between 30–100 kg (66–220 lb).

Classification Percrocuta was introduced as a genus of Hyaenidae in 1938. Percrocuta's relation to the family was debated until 1985, when Percrocuta, Dinocrocuta, Belbus, and Allohyaena were accepted as the four genera of Percrocutidae. More recent evidence, however, has shown that Belbus and Allohyaena at least, are not percrocutids.

Fossil evidence P. abessalomi is known only from a skull, two mandibles, and two teeth. These fossils were all collected from the Belomechetskaja, Russia area and date from the sixth Mammal Neogene (MN) zone. This species is the best known of the family Percrocutidae. P. miocenica is known from only a few mandibles, found in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Turkey. These fossils are also dated to MN 6.

Palaeobiology

Palaeoecology Because its skull morphology is highly convergent with that of present day osteophagous hyaenids, Percrocuta was likely durophagous as well.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Percrocuta

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Percrocuta claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Percrocuta before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Percrocuta ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Percrocuta

In research: Percrocuta appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Percrocuta in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Percrocuta is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Fossil taxa described in 1938, Fossils of China, Fossils of Kenya, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Percrocuta outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Percrocuta in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Percrocuta means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Percrocuta out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Percrocuta in simple terms?

Percrocuta is an extinct genus of percrocutid hyena. It lived in Eurasia and Africa, during the Miocene epoch.

Why does Percrocuta matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Percrocuta?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Percrocuta.