Ictitherium (meaning "weasel beast") is an extinct genus belonging to the family Hyaenidae and the subfamily Ictitheriinae erected by Trouessart in 1897. Ictitherium species were endemic to Eurasia and Africa during the Middle Miocene through the Early Pliocene (12.7—5.3 mya) and existed approximately.

Description

Ictitherium were around 1.2 m long, and looked more like civets than modern hyenas, possessing a long body with short legs and a possibly short tail. It is speculated that I. viverrinum was an opportunistic feeder, and that it ate plants as well as medium-small mammals and birds. Ictitherium was a very successful and abundant genus, with multiple fossils often being found at a single site. Possibly, this early hyena genus lived in packs and had a social order, much like its modern descendants.