Family of the Week: The Zofons

The zofons (pronounced like "zuh-fones") are a group of carnivorous mammals that descended from modern day weasels. Most of them are scavengers. The face is much like a modern dog's the tail is relatively short in most species, about half the length of the legs. The ears are small and round. The eyes are rather large and round. Though they are scavengers, their heads are not nude, as in the metazoic hyenas. In some genera, like Zoodes, Truculentus and Dirogale, a horse-like mane is also present. The claws are bearlike, and sharp. The fur is thick, and in Uvidictis is also waterproof. Most species are either solitary, or travels in couples. The smallest species are in the genus Ischuos, the largest species are in Truculentus. Most species inhabit the new world, though some of the larger species are migratory, and occasionally make their way across the land bridge connecting North America to Asia. The sense of smell is better than most other mammals. Almost all species are diurnal animals.

Uvidictis is among the most interesting species, by being semi-aquatic crab and fish-eaters. They are perhaps the only species that hunt their own food, rather than scavenge kills from other animals. They are not long-distance divers like the juriffars, or even like the water dogs, but rather wade in the shallows, topping over rocks and stones to search for crabs, crayfish and fish. Their sharp, curved claws and padded paws are designed to grasp fish. The teeth are sharp and jaws powerful enough to easily crush the shell of crayfish, or crush through the tough armor scales of some catfish. The basic appearance of these animals is a lot like a modern raccoon. They are not really slenderly built, and have very little webbing on their feet, yet their fur is thick, oily, and waterproof. The eyes are rather large and the ears are small. The sense of smell in Uvidictis is poorer than in other zofons, as they hunt mostly by sight and by feel.

One species in this family, Dirogale noxia, bears the funny name of 'big-footed zofon'. This is a design of these animals to get around easily in their mountainous homes. The rather over-sized feet allows this animal to easily get a grasp on the uneven surfaces of boulders and move around without much threat of falling. They have the ability to use their claws much like a monkey uses it's toes. This is a good-sized animal, but it is not the largest in the family. That honor belongs to Truculentus, which are about the size of today's tapirs. They have large claws, but they do not use their claws in killing prey. Most of the time, the claws are used for either defense, or swatted at intruders as a threat, reminding them to stay off their territory, or when they take over a kill to keep other scavengers away.

Though these animals are tough customers, they themselves are not without dangerous enemies. Large deinognathids are perhaps their worst enemies. Large viverrids like Tarboailurus may also prey on these animals. Most of the time, the predator gets angry because the scavenger is intruding on their kill. Zofons are very brazen, much like hyenas today are, and often unintelligently approach a predator on it's kill only to be chased away, or even killed. Small species like Uvidictis are sometimes taken by snakes, crocodiles, predatory bats, and smaller deinognathids as well.