Inostrancevia latifrons was the largest member of the gorgonopsians, a clade of carnivorous therapsids from the Permian Period that sported elongated saber-like canine teeth. With a body length around eleven feet and a mass of 660 lbs, it would have been the apex predator of the cold deserts of eastern Europe during the Late Permian, 259 to 252 million years ago. Although gorgonopsians, like all therapsids, would have been closely related to the ancestors of mammals, it is not known for sure whether or not they would have had hair.