A 2018 article in a Texas magazine, Bear Dogs of El Paso, described these ancient mammals as ‘ancestors of both bears and dogs’ (Deeringer, 2018). However, does this claim hold true?1 This raises the question of whether this claim is accurate.
Fossil Research
The article cited paleontologist Susumu Tomiya and anatomist Jack Tseng, who authored a 2016 technical report in Royal Society Open Science examining bear dogs.2
The two researchers re-examined two fossils, using new CT imaging techniques that revealed skull features indicating that both specimens belonged to a distinct group of predators known as bear dogs.
Does the name of these creatures suggest that bears and dogs evolved from them? Certainly not.
What Were Bear Dogs?
At the end of the article, the author cites Tseng, who states: ‘Bear dogs and true dogs shared a common ancestor… there is little evidence to support the idea that true dogs directly descended from bear dogs’.1
This is contradictory. The article claims bear dogs are ancestors of dogs, but no evidence of this is shown.
In a 2016 issue of Science magazine, it was observed that: ‘Bear dogs, scientifically known as amphicyonids, get their common name from their general resemblance to modern-day bears and dogs, especially in their body shape and posture, but they are, in fact, only distantly related to these lineages.’3
Thus, the author admits, as does Tseng, that bear dogs are not the ancestors of dogs but merely distant relatives.
Scientific Observations
Summarising the 2016 Royal Society report, the University at Buffalo highlighted that bear dogs possess a distinctive bony enclosure near the ears in their skulls.4 Tomiya and Tseng identified these structures in the Texas fossils.
In a 2001 study, small bear dog skulls were compared to those of modern dogs. The report observed that ‘canids, from their earliest appearance, have a fully enclosed auditory region’.5 If evolution occurred, should the early ancestors of dogs have not shown fewer similarities to modern dogs?
The 2001 report further observed that the rock layers containing bear dog fossils also contain a higher number of dog fossils than bear dog fossils. This indicates that both groups existed at the same time and in the same location. Given this, how could one have evolved into the other?
When bear dog fossils were ultimately classified within the amphicyonid family, Science magazine remarked that, ‘it is unclear where and when amphicyonids evolved.’3
Conclusion
Evolutionary scientists have conceded that bear dogs most likely did not evolve into modern dogs. This highlights the inconsistencies often found in the information provided to the public across different sources, as shown by the Texas magazine article.
Bear dogs were neither dogs, bears, nor the ancestors of either. Fossil evidence suggests they were a unique species that became extinct and, therefore—answering the question posed in the title—they will not return.
By the way, we recommend reading the articles:
- Phenotypic Plasticity – A Rapid Form of Evolution?
- Primitive Religion – Animism or Monotheism?
- What is the Source of the Genetic Code?
- Did God Create Parasites?
- Social Darwinism and Its Impact on Society
Footnotes
- Deeringer, M. (2018) ‘Bear Dogs of El Paso’, Texas Co-op Power, 29 June.
- Tomiya, S. and Tseng, Z.J. (2016) ‘Whence the beardogs? Reappraisal of the Middle to Late Eocene ‘Miacis’ from Texas, USA, and the origin of Amphicyonidae (Mammalia, Carnivora)’, Royal Society Open Science, 3, 160518.
- Perkins, S. (2016) ‘Bear dogs once lived in southern Texas’, Science News, 11 October. Available at: https://www.sciencemag.org.
- Goldbaum, E. (2016) ‘From unknown to beardog: Findings rescue fossils from “trashbin” genus’, University at Buffalo News Center, 12 October. Available at: https://www.buffalo.edu.
- Hunt, R.M. Jr. (2001) ‘Small Oligocene Amphicyonids from North America (Paradaphoenus, Mammalia, Carnivora)’, American Museum Novitates, 3331, pp. 18.
Compiled from: B. Thomas, ‘Beardogs: bears, dogs, or something else?’, Acts&Facts, Institute for Creation Research, August 2018, p. 15.
© Source of main image: Canva.
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