Bastetodon was classified as a species of the extinct group of carnivorous mammals called hyenodonts, which evolved long before modern carnivorous animals.

About 30 million years ago, parts of Egypt were covered in lush forests. Within those trees, lurked an order of fearsome big cat-sized carnivores called Hyaenodonta. These apex predators thrived after the dinosaurs went extinct, but would eventually meet their own untimely end.

A rare discovery of a nearly complete skull in the Egyptian desert has led scientists to the "dream" revelation of a new 30-million-year-old species of the ancient apex predatory carnivore, Hyaenodonta.

Paleontologists have made an extraordinary discovery in one of Africa’s most important fossil sites, unearthing a new ancient carnivore species known as the Bastetodon. During a recent excavation in the Egyptian desert,