Paleoparadoxia is thought to have fed primarily on seaweeds and sea grasses. The jaws and the angle of the teeth resemble a backhoe bucket. Its bulky body was well adapted for swimming and underwater foraging. Originally interpreted as amphibious, Paleoparadoxia is now thought to have been a fully marine mammal like their living relatives, the sirenians, spending most of their lives walking across the sea bottom like marine hippos.[4] Studies on its habitat preference show that it favoured deep, offshore waters.[5]
Size estimates of P. tabatai vary, with the Tsuyama specimen measuring 215 cm (7.05 ft) in length, 80 cm (2.6 ft) in height, and 582 kg (1,283 lb) in body mass, and the other specimens measuring 1,048 kg (2,310 lb) and 3.2 metric tons (3.5 short tons) in body mass.[6]
^Kumiko Matsui; Katsuo Sashida; Sachiko Agematsu; Naoki Kohno (1 April 2017). "Habitat preferences of the enigmatic Miocene tethythere Desmostylus and Paleoparadoxia (Desmostylia; Mammalia) inferred from the depositional depth of fossil occurrences in the Northwestern Pacific realm". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 471 (471): 254–265. Bibcode:2017PPP...471..254M. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.02.005. ISSN0031-0182.
^Inuzuka, N. (1996). Body size and mass estimates of desmostylians(Mammalia). The Journal of the Geological Society of Japan, 102(9), 816–819. https://doi.org/10.5575/geosoc.102.816
Inuzuka, Norihisa (2005). "The Stanford Skeleton of Paleoparadoxia (Mammalia: Desmostylia)". Bulletin of the Ashoro Museum of Paleontology. 3: 3–110.
Kemp, Tom S. (2005). The Origin and Evolution of Mammals. Oxford University Press. ISBN0198507615. OCLC56652579.
Reinhart, Roy Herbert (1959). "A review of the Sirenia and Desmostylia". University of California Publications in Geological Sciences. 36 (1): 1–146. OCLC3474601.
