The Early Pliocene is a crucial time period in carnivoran evolution. Holarctic carnivoran faunas suffered a turnover event at the Miocene-Pliocene boundary. This event is also observed in Africa but its onset is later and the process more drawn-out. Kanapoi is one of the earliest faunas in Africa to show evidence of a fauna that is more typical Pliocene than Miocene in character. The taxa recovered from Kanapoi are: Torolutra sp., Enhydriodon (2 species), Genetta sp., Helogale sp., Homotherium sp., Dinofelis petteri, Felis sp., and Parahyaena howelli. Analysis of the broader carnivoran context of which Kanapoi is an example shows that all these taxa are characteristic of Plio-Pleistocene African faunas, rather than Miocene ones. While some are still extant and some went extinct in the Early Pleistocene, P. howelli is unique in both originating and going extinct in the Early Pliocene.

上新世早期是食肉动物进化的关键时期。食肉性食肉动物在中新世-上新世边界发生翻身事件。在非洲也观察到了这一事件，但它的发生较晚，而且过程更加缓慢。卡纳波伊（Kanapoi）是非洲最早的动物群之一，显示出动物性状比中新世更典型的上新世的证据。从卡纳波伊（Kanapoi）回收的分类单元是：Torolutra菌，Enhydriodon（2种），Genetta菌，Helogale菌，Homotherium菌，Dinofelis petteri，Felis菌和Parahyaena howelli。对以卡纳波伊为例的更广泛的食肉动物背景的分析表明，所有这些分类群都是上新世非洲动物群的特征，而不是中新世动物群的特征。虽然有些仍然存在，有些在早更新世灭绝，但是Howelli P. howelli在上新世的起源和灭绝中都是独特的。