Built like Tanks, Dumb as Lizards: These Ancient “Hell Pigs” Crushed Bones and Ruled North America with Brute Force

Built like Tanks, Dumb as Lizards: These Ancient “Hell Pigs” Crushed Bones and Ruled North America with Brute Force

Thirty million years ago, a massive, tusked predator roamed the floodplains of what is now North America. Standing over six feet long and weighing more than a ton, Archaeotherium—colloquially known as a hell pig—was armed with bone-shattering jaws and an intimidating skull that made up nearly a third of its body. For decades, paleontologists debated whether this extinct genus of entelodonts was an active predator, a scavenger, or simply an overs…