CNN World
(CNN) — With sharp catlike teeth and a doglike body, ancient carnivores called hyaenodonts were once at the top of the food chain, but the entire lineage was wiped out about 25 million years ago, leaving

prehistorians to grapple with what caused the apex predator to go extinct.

Now, an international team of paleontologists has found a new piece of the puzzle — a nearly complete skull of a previously unidentified species of hyaenodonta. The discovery could bring scientists one step closer to understanding these ferocious beasts and their evolutionary history.

The fossil, which was unearthed in the Fayum Depression of Egypt’s Western Desert, is the most complete skull of the hyaenodonta subfamily Hyainailourinae to be found in Africa. The skull dates back to the early Oligocene Epoch around 30 million years ago, according to a study published Monday in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

When the study authors uncovered the skull in 2020, they shouted excitedly as they realized their rare find, recalled lead author Shorouq Al-Ashqar, a doctoral student at Mansoura University Vertebrate Paleontology Center and a research assistant at American University in Cairo.

“It was an amazing moment … ,” Ashqar said. “This skull is important to us, not only because it’s complete and three dimensional, and actually it’s a beautiful one, but also it provides us with new traits to know more about this extinct group of carnivorous animals.”