Nimravus

Nimravus is an extinct genus of the family Nimravidae, subfamily Nimravinae (false saber-toothed cat) endemic to North America during the Oligocene epoch (33.3—26.3 mya), existing for approximately 7 million years.

Taxonomy
Nimravus was named by Cope (1879) [status called into question by Bryant 1996]. It is the type genus of Nimravidae, Nimravinae. It was assigned to Nimravidae by Cope (1879) and Martin (1998); and to Nimravinae by Flynn and Galiano (1982), Bryant (1991) and Hunt (1998).[2][3]

Unrelated to saber-toothed cats, they evolved a similar form through parallel evolution.

Morphology
Nimravus was around 1.2 metres (4 ft) in body length. With its sleek body, it may have resembled the modern caracal, although it had a longer back and more dog-like feet with partially retractile claws. It probably hunted birds and small mammals, ambushing them like modern cats, rather than chasing them down. Nimravus competed with other false sabre-tooths such as Eusmilus.[4]

A Nimravus skull, found in North America, had been pierced in the forehead region, the hole exactly matching the dimensions of the sabre-like canine of Eusmilus. This particular individual of Nimravus apparently survived this encounter, as the wound showed signs of healing.

A single specimen was examined by M. Mendoza for body mass and was estimated to have a weight of 29.5 kg (65 lbs).