Living large mustelids are either aquatic predators (the otters, Lutrinae), or terrestrial animals with a crouching stance and heavy limbs with adaptations for digging (the wolverine, and various groups called badgers).

Ekorus is a representative of an extinct ecological type of mustelid – large stalking and running mammals comparable to dogs, cats, hyenas, and amphicyonids.

[5] Fossils of giant Miocene mustelids with similar morphology, reconstructed as hypercarnivores or carnivore-scavengers, have also been discovered in North America,[6] Europe,[7] and Asia,[8] as well as other parts of Africa.

[9] Apparently before the African savannas evolved, the giant mustelid Ekorus stalked its prey, such as the three-toed horse Eurygnathohippus and the large pig Nyanzachoerus, in forests and woodlands.

[13] Tectonic changes starting about 35 million years ago led to the formation of the Great Rift Valley, and the rise of highlands that cause rain shadows in the surrounding region.