![]() However, the fossils also show that these injuries had time to heal or that the cats lived with them for a long time. Some saber-tooth cat fossils have evidence of serious injuries, like broken bones and dislocated hips. However, there aren't many broken saber teeth in the fossil record, it's likely that the cats killed through slashing and stabbing rather than holding on to struggling prey.Įvidence in the fossil record also suggests that the cats may have had a social structure. This meant that their teeth easily could have been broken while trying to subdue struggling prey. Because of the variations in thickness, the cats' saber teeth were stronger from front to back than side to side. The shape of the cats' teeth also supports the theory that they ripped through the throats or abdomens of their prey, leading to death through loss of blood. Because of their stocky, powerful bodies, they were probably better at knocking animals down than chasing them over long distances. One is the fossil record, and the other is the behavior of today's big cats, saber-tooths' closest living relatives.Īs we discussed in the last section, fossilized bones have offered some clues about how saber-tooth cats hunted. Paleontologists use two primary sources of information to draw conclusions about the cats' lives. It's hard to know exactly how saber-tooth cats behaved because none are alive today. We'll look at the evidence for a social structure among saber-tooths - and arguments that they were solitary - in the next section. This coloring would have helped the cat blend in with the vegetation that was common at the time.įossils have also given paleontologists a few ideas on how saber-tooth cats lived and behaved. However, based on analysis of plant fossils from the last ice age, many paleontologists believe that Smilodon fatalis had the dappled coat of a cheetah or bobcat. So far, paleontologists haven't found any fossilized remains of saber-tooth skin or fur, so there's no solid evidence of their coloring. ![]() Its color is a whole other matter, though. Imagine a bulked-up lion that's lost its tail and been slightly compressed from head to rear and foot to shoulder, and you've got a pretty good idea of what the saber-tooth's body was shaped like. The lack of a long tail is also one reason why scientists don't call them saber-tooth tigers or saber-tooth lions. This may have made saber-tooth cats stronger but less agile than most of today's big cats. ![]() Saber-tooth cats also lacked the long tail that today's lions use for balance. While a lion might weigh up to 500 pounds (227 kilograms), saber-tooth cats weighed between 600 and 750 pounds (272 and 340 kilograms). Their legs and bodies were short and powerful, and they had a lot of muscle mass, causing them to weigh a lot more than the average lion. These carnivores were like sturdy, squat versions of modern lions. What the saber-tooth cat lacked in jaw strength it made up in physical bulk and power. That's one reason why saber-tooth cats tended to aim for the throat or abdomen instead of the bonier parts of their prey. They also weren't designed to provide anchors for the amount of muscle needed to hang on to struggling prey for a long time. The cats' skulls weren't designed to handle the pressure of biting through bone. This let the cats take big bites, although, according to computerized tomography ( CT) scans, they used those big bites for soft flesh, not thick bones. Smilodon fatalis could open its mouth up to 120 degrees wide. But saber-tooth cats had the ability to open their mouths very wide to make up for the extreme length of their teeth. The sheer size of a saber-tooth cat's canines can make it seem like eating or attacking prey would be a problem. Then we'll look at how scientists have interpreted these fossils to learn about how saber-tooth cats lived and behaved. We'll start with a look at the anatomy of these big cats, as recorded in the fossil record. For the purpose of this article, we'll talk primarily about one member of the Smilodon genus: Smilodon fatalis, which became extinct at the end of the last ice age, about 10,000 years ago. These animals varied in shape and size, and so did their most notable trait - their teeth. One is that there were lots of carnivores with long teeth that lived during various periods of the Earth's history. In talking about saber-tooth cats, it's important to make a few things clear. Most likely, saber-tooth cats' prey died slowly from loss of blood rather than quickly from strangulation or a broken neck. Instead, these cats used their canines for slicing and ripping the softest parts for their prey - their throats and abdomens. The cats' oversized teeth were weapons, but their jaws weren't built for strangulation or crunching through spines. This adds up to a stalk-and-pounce hunter that was powerful enough to knock prehistoric bison off their feet.
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