Miacis

Modern Animal> ﻿**MI****A** **C ****IS **



The miacis is a small mammal that had a weasel-like body. It had a very long thin tail, five toed legs and sharp pointy ears. Miacis is known to be one of the ancestors of the coyote and the great grandmother of all carnivores including __hyenas__ , bears, felines, racoons, siberian tigers. It appeared around 60-55 million years ago, the late Paleocene era. The miacis lived around the North American and European continents just like the coyote nowadays. Similar member of the group is the creodonts which show similar physical features and characteristics to the miacis.


 * ~ Scientific Classification ||
 * Kingdom: || Animalia ||
 * Phylum: || Chordata ||
 * Class: || Mammalia ||
 * (unranked): || Carnivoramorpha ||
 * Superfamily: || Miacoidea ||
 * Family: || Miacis ||

= DIAGRAM =



The habitat of the M iacis is mainly the woodlands and subtropical forests of Europe and North America. Subtropical forests were mainly forests that were full of trees and rivers. Being a aboreal animal, this is the best habitat where it did live in, where birds, fruits, bird eggs, amphibians were to be found. With the coverage of tall trees, there was less sunshine and alot of rain. Some possible predators of the Miacis would be large reptiles including: chamsosaurs, crocodilia, palaeophi snakes, and Protochelydra zangerli (similiar to nowaday snapping turtles).
 * HABITAT **

= = The miacis was found during the Paleocene era (60-55 million years ago) to the late Eocene era (55-39 million years ago). During this period, it became more warm and humid which was a good weather that led to alot of subtropical vegetation's growing. Climates now in North American ranges from approximately -5-12 degrees Celsius in winter and 10-23 degrees Celsius in summer. Due to the increase in climate from the Cretaceous , many marine animals were not able to survive and during the Paleocene era, the Sharks were at the very top of the food chain. Ten million years after the dinosaurs went extinct, the world was filled with mammals that were rodent-like, alot of medium sized mammals scavenged in the forests, and large herbivorous and carnivorous mammals hunted together with other mammals, birds, and reptiles.Mammals of the Paleocene era included: monotremes, marsupials, placentals and multituberculates. First flora's that colonised the Paleocene's forest floors were ferns. As well as ferns, many cacti and palm trees appeared.



=** ADAPTATIONS **= =STRUCTURAL:=

The miacis is known to have needle-like sharp claws which were used to climb trees, the sharp claws help grip onto the bark. The hind legs were longer than the front legs, having retractable claws, means having brisk joints which enables them to reach high speeds when moving, climbing up and down trees. By having five toed claws, where as nowadays felines and canines only have four, it gave them extra grip. Advantage of being high up in the trees, are that miacis could feast on bugs, small lizards, birds and were able to stay away from predators. Having this structure helps the miacis run fast and catch prey for food which is related to how the coyote catch their food by running at high speeds. An environmental pressure that led to this adaptation could be the habitat it lived in. Back then, everywhere was filled with trees and that includes their habitat. To find small animals like birds, lizards they must climb trees therefore they have long nails to climb up trees at fast speeds.
 * SHARP CLAWS **

Miacis had a very long thin tail that helped it balance on top of treetops. The length of the tail was approximately half its body size and its body size is around a small weasel; 30 cm’s. By having good balance in tree tops, it was easier for them to pounce on their prey, run at high speeds, jump from tree to tree. This long tail also helped the miacis when running onland, when reaching up to high speeds it was able to help balance the miacis. Along with this long tail, the miacis has short slender legs. The possible environmental pressure to this is the need for survive. Without a long thin tail, it would be very hard to balance on high tree tops, in order to find food.
 * LONG THIN TAIL **


 * DARK FUR **

The Miacis had very dark fur colour that could help it camouflage in the subtropical forest/jungles and help keep them warm during winter. By camouflaging it could avoid predators, it wasn't as easy for the predators to see the Miacis when running around high tree tops. The fur also helped keep them warm during winter. As you can see in the diagram, the tail has different coloured stripes that helped the Miacis camouflage as well along the forest floors where there are many vegetations growing, tree roots. A environmental pressure that possibly led to this adaption is habitat and surrounding. By having dark fur, it helps camouflage the miacis allowing the predators not to spot them as easily.

=**BEHAVIOURAL:**=

**SOLITARY**
=The miacis did not like being accompanied. They liked to roam around, sleep, hunt alone. Miacis’s being a carnivore did not like to share so therefore hunting alone gives them advantages. But due to their small size, they were not able to catch bigger animals alone. They sometimes hunt together as a group about 3 or 4. This adaptation helps them rely on their own more and be able to find more food for itself. An environment pressure that could have led to this adaptation is the need to survive and eat. Since there were many insects and small mammals at tree tops, there is no need to hunt in groups when they can rely on themselves. = = =

NOCTURNAL
= Miacis’s are nocturnal animals where this means they sleep during the day and are awake during the night. Being such a small animal of 30 cm’s it had many predators, and larger predators usually hunt during the day. Therefore, it was easy for the Miacis to run along treetops, hunt without predators lurking around. Hunting and being awake during the night allows the miacis to wander around in cooler climates. A environmental pressure that could have led to this adaptation is the need of survival. Being a small animal they can wander around tree tops without big predators around. With their sharp pointy ears that help them detect sound, they were able to find many small items to eat. =

= ** POSSIBLE EXTINCTION PRESSURE ** =

A possible pressure that led the miacis to be extinct was the change in weather. After the Paleocene period; where the miacis was still alive, the Eocene period had drastic change in weather where the earth had increased its climate by 5-7 degrees Celsius. By this increasing climate in weather, it would have been hard for the miacis to survive since they have small ears, hard to cool and regulate body temperatures. Predators were getting larger, foods were getting more scarce due to the increase in temperatures. They were only able to eat herbivores whereas their descendants adapted to being omnivores. The animals were not able to adapt so quickly to the rapid fluctuation in temperature.

=BIBLIOGRAPHY=
 * "First Felids." //Thor the Barbarian//. Web. 19 June 2011. from http://www.thorthebarbarian.com/theprimordials/id1.html
 * Miacis. (n.d.). //Speedylook.com//. Retrieved June 19, 2011, from []
 * Miacis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.).//Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia//. Retrieved June 21, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miacis
 * Miacis (Species) . (n.d.).//Silverwing Wiki//. Retrieved June 26, 2011, from http://silverwing.wikia.com/wiki/Miacis_(Species)
 * Jehle, M. (n.d.). Paleocene mammals of the world.//Paleocene mammals of the world//. Retrieved June 26, 2011, from http://www.paleocene-mammals.de/