Oxyaenidae is a family of carnivorous mammals. Traditionally classified in the wastebasket taxon Creodonta, they are actually unrelated to other clades within that order, and are basal laurasiatheres. The group contains three subfamilies comprising ten genera. Oxyaenids were specialized carnivores that preyed on other terrestrial vertebrates, eggs and insects. They were capable of climbing trees, which is suggested by fossil evidence of their paws.