Treestalker

The treestalker (Carnosciurus pordus) is the large, solitary, carnivorous, feline-like rodent from the Argentine Scrubland, 10 million years in the future. Its ancestor, the red-bellied tree squirrel, was introduced by humans to Argentina where it became an invasive species, as it can cause considerable damage to trees. Its descendants became large ground-dwelling carnivorous squirrels and developed into their feline-like forms.

The treestalker is about the size of an African lion. It may have cached kills in trees in a manner similar to the leopard. Lying in the long grass, it is an ambush predator that is completely striped: camouflage of that kind is needed for stalking and hiding in a largely forested habitat (like tigers) rather than chasing across open spaces (like lions). The face is slightly ratlike and is crossed by a thick black spot which helps to camouflage its eyes when peering out through vegetation. It is competed with other predatory animals such as the giant carnivorous lizard, the dragon tegu and the giant flightless bird, the slaughter bird. By a process of convergent evolution, it resembles the marsupial lion of Australia during the Pleistocene period.