Simocyon, which was about the size of a mountain lion, lived in the late Miocene and early Pliocene epochs, and has been found in Europe, Asia, and rarely, North America[1] and Africa.

While the red panda is primarily herbivorous, the teeth and skull of Simocyon indicate that it was carnivorous, and it may have engaged in some bone-crushing, like living hyenas.

[1] The skeleton of Simocyon indicates that, like the red panda, it could climb trees,[4] although it probably also spent considerable time on the ground.

[5] Simocyon and Ailurus both have a radial sesamoid, an unusual bone in the wrist that acts as a false thumb.

[6] Its competitors during its time period were ailuropodine and tremarctine bears, nimravid false cats, and early canids and felids.