Creodonts were any of a diverse group of extinct predatory mammals, from the Paleocene to Pleistocene epochs, that constituted the suborder Creodonta, of the order Carnivora, developing along evolutionary lines somewhat parallel to those of the ancestors of modern carnivores and typically having a stocky, doglike body and a long, low skull. Creodonts were an important group of carnivorous mammals from 55 to 35 million years ago in the ecosystems of Africa, Eurasia and North America. In Oligocene Africa, they were the dominant predatory group. The last genus went extinct 8 million years ago, and carnivorans now occupy their ecological niches. Illustration originally captioned: A Creodant. Illustration by Chas. R. Knight, 1916.