large hyaenodontid creodonts—"akenatenavus" cf. "leptognathus" and possibly "metapterodon"—shared the habitat with "e. eocaenus", and these pack-hunting carnivores, larger than the average dog, could well have included it among their prey. flightless or at least not quick in taking off, and not well-adapted to running away from threats either, retreating into the swamplands or reed belt would have provided a means of escape for the large birds. here too, the highly mobile toes would have proven useful. while near the water, "eremopezus" would have had to watch out for the basal crocodile ""crocodylus" megarhinus", the aquatic apex predator of late eocene faiyum. on the other hand, the long-snouted gavialid "eogavialis africanum" makes a rather unlikely predator of the giant bird, but feeding on large fish and other mid-sized vertebrates (like the false gharial "tomistoma schlegelii" of the present time), it would probably have competed with "e. eocaenus" for food to some extent if the bird indeed was a carnivorous semi-aquatic species.