The skull of a spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), photographed at the AMNH’s “Extreme Mammals” exhibit. \[Author’s note: This post gets a little bit graphic, so those who are made squeamish ...

The Harbin skull (left) and the Dali skull (right).

The skull of a spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), photographed at the AMNH’s “Extreme Mammals” exhibit. [Author’s note: This post gets a little bit graphic, so those who are made squeamish ...

There was something strange about the assemblage of Homo erectus fossils found at Zhoukoudian – the famous 750,000 – 200,000 year old site in China popularly known as Dragon Bone Hill.