Most of us became acquainted with saber-toothed tigers on the pages of Alexander Volkov’s fairy tale “The Wizard of the Emerald City.” In fact, the name “saber-toothed tiger” is far from consistent with the structure and habits of these animals, and is used mainly due to mass circulation by the media.
Modern science believes that these animals lived in prides, hunted together and were generally closer to modern lions, but this does not indicate their relationship or even identity. The ancestors of modern felids and the ancestors of saber-toothed cats separated during evolution millions of years ago. In Eurasia, saber-toothed cats are thought to have gone extinct 30,000 years ago, and in America, the last saber-toothed cat died about 10,000 years ago. However, information is coming from Africa indicating that the saber-toothed tiger may still have survived in the wilds of this continent.
One of the people talking about this possibility is Christian Le Noel, a famous French hunter of large African animals. In the second half of the twentieth century, Noel made a living by organizing African hunts for moneybags. He spent many years in the Central African Republic near Lake Chad. Below is an abbreviated translation of Le Noel's article on saber-toothed tigers.
Saber-toothed tigers in the center of Africa?
In the Central African Republic, where I worked professionally as a hunt leader and organizer for twelve years, local African tribesmen talk a lot about a saber-toothed predator they call Koq-Nindji, which translates to “mountain tiger.”
Interestingly, among the legendary animals, Koq-Nindji occupies a privileged position. The fact is that stories about this animal are common among peoples of various races and tribes, many of whom have never met each other. All these peoples call the habitat of the “mountain tiger” the area limited by the mountainous Tibesti plateau, the left tributary of the Nile - Bahr el-Ghazal, the plateaus of the Sahara desert and further the mountains of Uganda and Kenya. Thus, the appearance of this animal was noted over several thousand square kilometers.
The description of the animal practically corresponds to scientists’ understanding of the appearance of saber-tooths, whose fossil remains were discovered and dated back to 30 to 10 thousand years ago. Thus, the ancient saber-toothed tigers lived at the time when the first modern humans appeared.
Hunters of African tribes are practically illiterate people and have never seen a single textbook. I decided to take advantage of this and showed them several photographs of feline predators that exist in our time. In the middle of the stack of photographs I placed an image of a saber-toothed tiger. All the hunters chose him as the “mountain tiger” without hesitation.
As proof, they even showed me a cave into which the animal dragged the prey taken from the hunters. Then the tiger, without visible effort, carried away the carcass of a three hundred kilogram antelope. According to the hunters, this was thirty years before our conversation, which took place in 1970.
Among the peoples living in the north of the Central African Republic, stories about the “water lion” are also widespread. I'm guessing it's the same animal. Or these animals are close relatives.
There is written evidence from a European about a “water lion.” In 1910, a French column led by an officer and non-commissioned officers was sent to suppress a rebellion by local residents. To cross the Bemingui River, pirogues were used that carried ten people. The military archives preserved an officer’s report about how a certain lion attacked a pirogue and carried away one of the shooters in its mouth.
According to local residents, “water lions” live in caves located on the rocky banks of local rivers. Predators are predominantly nocturnal. “Their eyes sparkle at night like carbuncles, and their roar is like the roar of the wind before a storm,” say the locals.
My friend Marcel Halley, who hunted in Gabon in the twenties of the twentieth century, witnessed a strange fact. One day, while hunting in a swamp, he was attracted by strange wheezing sounds from the thickets. He discovered an injured female hippopotamus. There were several deep and long wounds on the animal’s body that could not have been inflicted by another hippopotamus, especially since these animals never attack females. Only males fight among themselves. Among other wounds, the animal had two huge and deep ones: one on the neck and the second on the shoulder.
The wounds on the neck and shoulder were round in shape and were so deep that the arm plunged into them up to the elbow. The wounds were not yet infected, which indicated their recent origin. These wounds could very well have been inflicted by a predator resembling a saber-toothed tiger, and could not have been inflicted by any known existing predator.
In these places, representatives of flora extinct throughout the rest of the Earth have been preserved, such as, for example, cycads from the genus Encephalartos. Why not assume that animals considered fossils also managed to survive?
In this article I will talk about saber-toothed tigers. About how they looked, ate, hunted. I will consider the reasons that prevented the further development and prosperity of these big cats.
Who are saber-tooth tigers
Saber-toothed tigers are members of the felid subfamily that went extinct about 10,000 years ago.
By the way, they never belonged to tigers. They probably weren't even striped.
The erroneous name for the animals appeared after excavations where the remains of upper fangs were found, reaching a length of 20 centimeters. They reminded scientists in appearance of the fangs of a modern tiger.
Saber-toothed tiger period
Saber-toothed tigers, or smilodon, appeared about 20 million years ago in Africa.
The predecessors of big cats began to rapidly develop upper canines, which undoubtedly influenced the further evolution of these animals. Their further habitats extended more towards North and South America, less towards Asia and Europe.
It is not known for certain how Smilodon lived. It is believed that the animals preferred large, open areas with little vegetation. It is also unknown in which groups the tigers lived. The generally accepted opinion is that if big cats lived in groups, then the latter consisted of an equal number of males and females.
Description of appearance and behavior
There is no reliable information about the appearance of the animals, because conclusions about what the saber-toothed tiger looked like were made solely from the remains found.
A large number of remains were found in the Los Angeles Valley in an oil lake. During the Ice Age, it attracted Smilodon with its brilliance. As a result, they died, being unable to withstand the liquid asphalt from the lake.
The color of the animals was presumably light brown interspersed with small leopard spots.
There is also debate about whether albino saber-tooth tigers ever existed.
Smilodon's legs were short. The cats pinched the victim with them and dug their twenty-centimeter fangs into the poor thing’s throat. The fangs could also be used to remove the “fur coat” of a killed animal.
The tail was also short, unlike the tail of modern tigers.
These ancient species were not known for their great endurance, mainly due to their massive physique. However, no one was inferior to them in reaction speed. It’s scary to imagine what it was like for people who lived in the same territory and at the same time as these ferocious predators.
Where they lived, how and who they hunted
Smilodon habitats
The animals lived mainly in America. However, the remains of animals were also found in the territories of Asia, Europe, and Africa.
Food and hunting
Smilodon ate only animal food.
Their diet included antelope, bison, horses, deer and even young mammoths. Sometimes predatory animals also feasted on carrion.
The main hunters were females.
They always walked ahead of the pack. Having caught the prey, they immediately strangled it with their massive front paws.
This behavior is similar to the behavior of cats, and not tigers, which again confirms the lack of relationship between Smilodon and modern tigers.
Smilodon competitors
The competitors of the saber-toothed cat in America were birds of prey of the Fororacoceae family and giant sloths Megatherium, whose weight sometimes reached 4 tons.
In North America, danger to these predators included cave lions, bears and wolves.
Reasons for the extinction of Smilodon
To begin with, it is worth noting that there is no confirmation that saber-toothed cats continue to exist in our time. Although loud statements periodically appear in the press that Smilodon were seen somewhere in the mountains.
The reason for the extinction of Smilodon was presumably the disappearance of protein-rich vegetation. After the Ice Age, plants grew again, but their chemical composition was different. This led to the death of the herbivores, and subsequently the tigers themselves.
Modern descendants of saber-toothed tigers
Clouded leopards are indirect descendants of saber-toothed tigers.
However, only three-centimeter fangs remained from the large twenty-centimeter fangs, and beautiful eyes from the ferocious gaze.
The clouded leopard, unlike other leopards, is separated into a separate genus: it did not descend from panthers.
It is believed that there are no direct descendants of Smilodon.
Saber-toothed tigers became extinct due to the work of the uncompromising laws of nature: cooling and disappearance of vegetation.
Today, in the age of computer graphics and high technology, they are trying to recreate Smilodon using genetic engineering methods.
This is a complex, expensive and time-consuming process. In addition, the extinction of saber-toothed tigers is another reason to think about the need to protect nature and its riches, because every hour on our planet as many as 3 species of living beings disappear. And whether the representatives of the Red Book will remain alive in the future is up to us to decide.
Saber-toothed cats are a no-no phrase, and they will stir up an attack of dark horror somewhere in the depths of our nature. Who knows, perhaps such feelings are not produced by modern horror films, but by vague “memories” at the genetic level - after all, these terrible animals lived on the planet for quite a long time next to our ancestors and did not deny themselves the pleasure of feasting on human flesh.
Monsters from a dark past
The last saber-toothed cats on Earth went extinct ten thousand years ago. Therefore, we know little about them for sure and can only build versions - both about their lives and about their mysterious disappearance from the face of the planet. But these versions themselves are very interesting.
The Cenozoic era began with the extinction of giant lizards, and evolution, roughly speaking, was looking for a replacement for them. Size still mattered - but no longer the main thing or priority. Therefore, mammals have come to the forefront of the development of the animal world - including, of course, ancient predators; how could we live without them...
Well-fed saber-tooths are lazy “grazing” their food
History of an extinct species
Paleontologists believe that the first saber-toothed cats appeared in Africa about twenty-five million years ago - in the early or middle Miocene. The “pioneers” of this group looked rather modest and were not as striking as its later representatives. The prehistoric ancestors of feline predators were not giants at first, and they acquired the famous fangs of the branch gradually, in the process of evolution.
It is interesting that it was the African continent that became the cradle of many terrestrial life forms - including human ones. And two tens of millions of years ago, the era of the great cat tribe began here, represented at that time by only a few species of animals - so, in any case, scientists say.
The appearance of mammalian predators accelerated the development of the earth's fauna
The appearance of predatory mammals became a progressive moment in the development of the earth's fauna. They faced a large-scale expansion of territories and self-assertion against the background of other, long-existing species of predators, which contributed to the acceleration of evolution - the manifestation of radically new qualities and adaptations that contributed to survival.
At different stages in the history of the group of saber-toothed cats, the level of the World Ocean changed quite often - conditions were created for the animals to move over long distances to develop new and new territories. Thus, these predators gradually spread to almost all continents, except Antarctica and Australia. They dominated a vast land area for tens of millions of years, but then, quite suddenly, disappeared forever.
Today, only fossilized bones remain of saber teeth.
How saber-toothed cats evolved
This is not the first time nature has tested a killer device in the form of fangs of cyclopean size on saber-toothed cats, and not only on them. Similar “tools” were tested at different times and on different animals - something of the same kind existed among a group of lizards, and among some other mammals.
Nature endowed ancient cats with a unique killing weapon
Of course, predators used this magnificent weapon primarily for hunting - they could open their mouths very wide, almost 120 degrees. Modern cats can only dream about this.
It is assumed that as animals evolved, the length of their tail decreased, but the reasons and rationale for this phenomenon are unclear. The short tail, however, may indicate that the animal did not need to run much, using it for balance. Massive, heavy representatives of saber-tooths did not drive prey, but attacked it from a short distance - for example, from an ambush.
Many saber-toothed cats were bobtailed
Perhaps the evolutionary experiment with saber teeth has exhausted itself - a tool ideal for killing large prey turned out to be useless for use on smaller game: it is very inconvenient to catch and eat a rabbit with such a mouth. Nowadays, super-long fangs are not in honor of nature and are not used by it in creativity. Of the modern feline predators, only the clouded leopard has disproportionately large fangs, although it is not considered a direct descendant of saber-toothed cats.
The clouded leopard is the most fanged modern cat
Where did they live and why did they become extinct?
Large predatory cats lived both in endless savannas and in dense forests - everything is the same as now. Nine to ten million years ago, when the saber-toothed subfamily was in its heyday, its representatives had already settled on all but two continents and in many ways took leading positions - there were no animals then equal to them in intelligence and strength; The era of man has not yet arrived.
For scientists, the relatively rapid disappearance of megafauna from the face of the planet: mammoths, giant rhinoceroses and the same saber-toothed cats still remains a mystery. Why did they become extinct, what happened ten thousand years ago - very recently in the scale of history? Among the reasons are climate change, food problems, and the human factor - but it is unlikely that these reasons in themselves were sufficient for such a large-scale cataclysm.
There are other hypotheses: for example, the cosmic one - about the fall of a certain comet to Earth, which mysteriously had a detrimental effect on the realities of life of giant predators. Perhaps scientists will soon come to a consensus on this matter, and the secret will be revealed, but for now the fact remains: the earthly time of the giants has expired - and they have disappeared. The ruler of the planet has become a two-legged predator of relatively modest size - man.
Video: everything about saber-toothed cats
Description of ancient predators
The image of a saber-toothed cat is exaggerated in our imagination, and the filmmakers did their best here, making it a real creepy monster. However, the real appearance of this prehistoric predator is also impressive, which modern science is quite accurately able to recreate from the abundant fossil remains. Recently, ideas of cloning an ancient monster have been emerging more and more often, but so far they remain beyond the realm of science fiction.
Appearance
Prehistoric cats were larger in size than modern ones - they were larger than even the largest predators, the lion and the tiger - but not by much. Their bodies were most likely distinguished by increased muscularity - in ancient times, strength was by no means an unnecessary argument in favor of survival.
Many saber-toothed cats had a strong build
Parts of the skeleton bones that paleontologists have at their disposal allow them to claim that in terms of the structure of the spine, the saber-toothed felines most resembled a hyena - they had shortened hind legs and an elongated neck, which visually made the body quite compact. Perhaps they lacked grace and elegance, but the choice towards strength was again obvious.
It is still impossible to say that saber teeth were an ideal murder weapon. In the process of fighting a strong victim, the fangs could easily break or somehow jam unsuccessfully, immediately making their “carrier” helpless and vulnerable. These sharp but fragile blades made it possible to kill a large herbivore with lightning speed, precisely by piercing its thick skin in the neck area or gutting its stomach. Alternatively, predators used their giant fangs as carving knives, tearing the victim's carcass into pieces.
It was not difficult to break these terrible teeth
Main types of saber-toothed cats
It’s worth saying right away that the common expression “saber-toothed tiger” is incorrect. In any case, Smilodon, which is most often called that, lived on the American continent and could not have become the ancestor of the tiger.
The ancestors of many famous saber-toothed cats are considered to be Machairodus. According to scientists, it was the mahairods that became that promising branch of prehistoric cats, which in the process of evolution was divided into several independent powerful species. Megatherions became the ancestors of Smilodon, who lived in the territory of both present-day Americas, North and South. Other predatory monsters reigned on the European Plain - Homotherium. However, no fundamental differences were noticed between these animals, except that the “Europeans” had a shorter body.
Machairods (“dagger teeth” - translated from ancient Greek) lived on the Eurasian continent 15 million years ago, quite soon after their appearance they rose to the top of the food chain. This ancient genus of saber-toothed cats was originally represented by not too large animals, smaller than a modern lion - the weight of the most powerful specimens did not exceed 220 kilograms. The fangs of the mahairods were already well developed, but were much smaller in size than the “blades” of the smilodon and homotherium.
On the European Plain there were no such huge herds of large ungulates as in Africa or America, so the favorite prey of the local saber-toothed cats were mastodons - extinct ancient proboscis animals, smaller in size than a mammoth or even a modern elephant.
Machairod's fangs were relatively small
The following species are distinguished in the genus Machairods:
- Machairodus aphanistus;
- Machairodus giganteus;
- Machairodus coloradensis;
- Machairodus palanderi.
Smilodon is that terrible beast, which is widely called the saber-toothed tiger. This bob-tailed predator was the largest representative of the subfamily of saber-toothed cats, although it did not exceed the dimensions of modern tigers and lions too much - it weighed up to four centners, and its luxurious sharp fangs reached, together with roots, a length of 28 centimeters.
Outwardly, he resembled a mountain lion, pumped up in the gym - powerful, sculpted muscles framed a strong and wide bone structure. The short fur of different subspecies could be either uniformly colored or spotted.
Smilodon could even hunt giant sloths
The males were larger than the females and had a short, stiff mane. They apparently led small prides in which the cats hunted and the male ruled. According to another version, the animals were organized into social groups consisting of several males and females.
Scientists distinguish the following subspecies of this type of saber-toothed cat:
- Smilodon fatalis;
- Smilodon floridus;
- Smilodon californicus;
- Smilodon gracilis;
- Smilodon populator.
Over the four million years of its existence, homotheria managed to widely populate the planet - establishing itself as one of the most powerful and successfully developing genera of predatory animals. They perfectly adapted to life in a wide variety of climatic conditions and lived in different latitudes - from periglacial regions to the tropics - as long as there was enough food.
They were very strong and hardy, but far from the largest saber-toothed cats, even smaller than their ancestors, the mahairods - the weight of the male did not reach two hundred kilograms. Studies have shown that homotherium, unlike most saber-tooths, saw better during the day than at night.
Homotherium - a strong and resilient saber-toothed cat
The large genus of Homotherium united up to one and a half dozen species, among which the following are the most studied:
- Homotherium latidens;
- Homotherium nestianus;
- Homotherium sainzelli;
- Homotherium crenatidens;
- Homotherium nihowanensis;
- Homotherium ultimum.
This is what different types of ancient saber-toothed cats might have looked like - photo gallery
Mahairod - a representative of the most successful genus of saber-toothed cats Barbourofelis was distinguished by great strength, huge fangs - and a small brain Proailur - a medium-sized saber-toothed cat that lived mainly in trees Megantereon became the progenitor of the most famous saber-tooth - Smilodon Eusmil - one of the most ancient cat genera Miracinonyx may have been the ancestor of cheetahs and pumas, Dinofelis, according to scientists, often hunted people Homotherium, unlike many cats, saw better during the day than at night Sansanosmil - a European cat that had a powerful physique, but was small in size Dinictis - a very dangerous predator, not larger than a lynx Smilodon is a textbook saber tooth, often called the saber-toothed tiger.
Video: this is what saber-toothed cats probably looked like
Lifestyle and nutrition
There is no exact data on how these spectacular “pre-cats” lived and hunted - whether they preferred to stay alone or still gathered in the likeness of today’s prides of lions. Accordingly, we do not know about the features of their social behavior. The structure of the limbs suggests that these monsters were unlikely to be distinguished by the ability to develop enormous speed while pursuing a prey, but their powerful, rapid attack on prey should have been crushing and victorious.
The strength of saber teeth is in an accurate and powerful throw
Whenever possible, saber-toothed cats diversified their diet with human meat and hunted ancient primates, which are considered our ancestors. This is clearly evidenced by archaeological finds - eerie marks on the skulls of ancient people, which could only have been left by the fangs of a saber-toothed beast.
Did these predators attack giant mammoths? Modern artists love to paint scenes of such epic massacres - but it is very unlikely that they have any basis. Only defenseless baby mammoths could be tough for cats - well, or an adult, but already dying animal.
Smilodon could only attack mammoths in packs
By the way, the findings of bones of mammoth calves, clearly gnawed by saber-toothed jaws, lead scientists to the conclusion that predators hunted in groups - it was hardly possible to recapture the baby from its angry mammoth parents.
Did they hunt small animals, such as rodents? Actually, hunger is no big deal, and where would the proud monsters go if they really wanted to eat? But in ancient times, the food supply for predators was much more abundant - they did not experience a shortage of hunting objects and could choose from them so that the effort expended would bring as much meat as possible.
Ancient cats preferred to attack large herbivores
It is likely that ancient cats, like modern ones, had the ability to see - and therefore hunt - in the dark. Such conclusions allow us to make reconstructions of skulls and conclusions about which lobes of the brain were developed in saber-toothed predators. And nighttime surprise attacks are an opportunity to defeat a relaxed victim of a fairly large size. For the same purpose, attacks from ambushes and shelters were obviously used.
Many saber-tooth battles were fought in the darkness
Large ungulates - something like bison, wild boars and horses - formed the basis of the diet of prehistoric cats. Sometimes even giant sloths became their prey - animals the size of elephants, which themselves were sometimes not averse to eating meat.
Video: what we know about the saber-tooth tiger
Findings of remains of saber-toothed cats
Numerous finds of skeletal bones and skulls of ancient saber-tooths provide interesting and invaluable materials for science. Scientists receive quite a lot of material for research and reconstruction - the fossilized remains of saber-toothed cats are discovered from time to time throughout their vast habitat: on all continents except Antarctic and Australian.
Thanks to such important discoveries, gaps in our knowledge both about specific species of prehistoric animals and about the planet’s extinct megafauna in general are constantly being filled.
For example, the discovery that in 2000 was pulled out of the waters of the North Sea by the nets of a fishing vessel was of revolutionary significance - on that day, the fishermen’s “catch” was part of the jaw of an ancient homotherium. Research has shown that this saber-tooth lived on Earth 28 thousand years ago, but until then scientists assumed that saber-toothed cats had not existed on our planet for three hundred thousand years.
Homotherium jaw found at the bottom of the North Sea
The most interesting surprises await paleontologists in the so-called bitumen or asphalt lakes - Americans also call them tar pits. Only a few tar pits have survived from prehistoric times - mostly in the United States, but also in Venezuela, Iran, Russia, Poland and Azerbaijan. Liquid asphalt became a death trap for many wild animals, and then an excellent preservative for their remains. It was here that many skeletons of saber-toothed cats were found in perfect condition.
Large-scale excavations that lasted for eight years were carried out in the area of Madrid (Spain), supervised by the Museum of Paleontology of the University of Michigan. The excavations resulted in numerous valuable finds, including the remains of 27 saber-toothed predators. At the end of the Miocene period, on the site of modern Madrid there were dense forests and lush meadows, replete with herbivores - they were hunted by sabertooths.
Paleontologists show off their findings at excavations near Madrid
Very interesting finds are not only bones, but also... traces of prehistoric cats - several such fossilized paw prints were discovered in different years on different continents. The first in a series of such amazing finds was the “paw” of Smilodon, which walked fifty thousand years ago in the vicinity of the present city of Miramar (Argentina). The diameter of such a paw is 19.2 centimeters, which is comparable to the palm print of an adult - if the fingers are fully spread.
Fossilized Smilodon paw print discovered in Argentina
In Argentina, in La Plata, there is a famous natural history museum, among the exhibits of which are the remains of saber-toothed cats. The entrance to the museum is guarded by a pair of stone Smilodon.
I am sure that almost all modern children and adults know that saber-toothed tigers once walked across our planet. We owe much of this knowledge to the cartoon “Ice Age,” where one of the main characters, Diego, is a saber-toothed tiger. But did such animals really exist, and if so, what happened to them?
In fact, the concept of “saber-toothed tiger” is rather commonplace. In reality, everything looks somewhat different and, as often happens in science, more complicated. I will try to avoid complex scientific terms and briefly talk about extinct cats with huge fangs, which, by the way, finally disappeared not so long ago...
Thanks to the skeletons found, scientists learned that between 20 million years ago and 10,000 years ago, all continents except Australia and Antarctica were inhabited by cats with very long fangs. Such cats were bred into a separate subfamily of felines - saber-toothed cats. For a long time it was believed that all saber-toothed cats were large, like a modern tiger or lion, but it was later discovered that saber-toothed cats were all sizes.
The question still remains without a clear answer: why do cats have such long fangs? On the one hand, such fangs made it possible to inflict very deep wounds on prey, on the other hand, they could be broken quite easily. In addition, to bite with such fangs, the predator’s mouth had to open more than 120 degrees, and with such a jaw structure, the bite force is reduced. According to one version, the fangs had exclusively aesthetic value and served as a way to attract individuals of the opposite sex, but the version that the fangs were used to inflict deep wounds sounds more plausible.
Let's return to saber-toothed tigers, or more precisely to Diego from Madagascar. Who really was Diego? The subfamily of saber-toothed cats is divided into two groups or, in scientific terms, into two tribes - Machairods and Smilodon. The main difference between them was their size - Smilodon were the largest representatives of the cat family on earth. And it is the Smilodon that is called the saber-toothed tiger, therefore Diego is the Smilodon.
The reason for the disappearance of saber-toothed cats, like many other large mammals, was the Ice Age, which spanned the period from two million to twenty-five thousand years ago. Smilodon gradually lost their usual food - large mammals, including mammoths. The structure of cats did not allow them to hunt small game, which led to their gradual extinction.
Comparison of Smilodon with man and tiger: 
Remember me? If not, let me remind you that this small cat has the longest canines (relative to body size) of all living representatives of the cat family. And it is the clouded leopard that is considered, if not a direct descendant, but the closest relative of Smilodon.
Saber-toothed cats are typical representatives of the extinct subfamily of cats. Some barburofelids and nimravids that do not belong to the Felidae family are also sometimes mistakenly classified as Saber-toothed cats. Saber-toothed mammals could also be found in several other orders, including the creodonts (macheroids) and the marsupial saber-tooths, well known as the thylacosmyla.
Description of saber-toothed cats
Saber-toothed cats were found in the Middle and Early Miocene. An early member of the subfamily, Pseudaelurus quadridentatus, was responsible for the trend toward enlargement of the upper canines. Most likely, a similar trait underlay the so-called evolution of saber-toothed cats. The last representatives belonging to the subfamily of saber-toothed cats, the genus Smilodon.
And also homotherium (Homotherium), became extinct in the late Pleistocene, about 10 thousand years ago. The best known early genus Miomachairodus was known from the Middle Miocene of Turkey and Africa. During the Late Miocene, saber-toothed cats coexisted in several areas with Barbourofelis and some large archaic carnivores with long canines.
Appearance
DNA analysis published in 2005 showed that the Saber-toothed cat subfamily (Machairodontinae) was separated from the early ancestors of modern cats and is not related to any living felines. In Africa and Eurasia, saber-toothed cats coexisted quite successfully with other cats, but competed with cheetahs and panthers. In America, such animals, along with Smilodon, coexisted with the American lion (Panthera leo atrox) and puma (Puma concolor), jaguar (Panthera onca) and Miracinonyx.
This is interesting! Scientists have different opinions regarding the color of the coat, but experts believe that most likely the color of the fur was not uniform, but had clearly visible stripes or spots against the general background.
Conical-toothed and saber-toothed cats competed with each other for the distribution of food resources, which provoked the extinction of the latter. All modern cats have upper canines that are less or more conical in shape. According to the mitochondrial DNA data studied, saber-toothed cats of the subfamily Machairodontinae had an ancestor that lived about 20 million years ago. The animals had very long and noticeably curved fangs. In some species, the length of such fangs reached 18-22 cm, and the mouth could easily open 95°. Any modern representatives of cats are able to open their mouths only 65°.
The study of the teeth present on the remains of saber-toothed cats allowed scientists to draw the following conclusion: if the fangs of the animal were used both forward and backward, then they were capable of literally cutting through the flesh of the victim. However, the movement of such teeth from one side to the other could very well cause serious damage or complete breakage. The predator's muzzle is noticeably extended forward. There are currently no direct descendants of saber-toothed cats, and the question of relationship with the modern clouded leopard is currently controversial.
The extinct predator was characterized by a well-developed, powerful and very muscular body, but the frontal part, represented by the front legs and a massive cervical region, was most pronounced in such an animal. The powerful neck allowed the predator to easily support the overall impressive body mass, as well as perform a whole range of important maneuvers with its head. As a result of such structural features of the body, saber-toothed cats were able to knock down and then tear apart their prey with one bite.
Sizes of saber-toothed cats
By the nature of their physique, saber-toothed cats were less graceful and stronger animals than any modern cats. For many, it was typical to have a relatively short tail, reminiscent of a lynx's tail. It is also widely believed that saber-toothed cats belonged to the category of very large predators. However, it has been scientifically proven that many species of this family were relatively small in size, noticeably smaller than the ocelot and leopard. Only a very few, including Smilodon and Homotherium, could be classified as megafauna.
This is interesting! The height of the predator at the withers was most likely 100-120 cm, with a length of about 2.5 meters, and the size of the tail did not exceed 25-30 cm. The length of the skull was about 30-40 cm, and the occipital part and frontal region were slightly smoothed.
Representatives of the tribe Machairodontini, or Homoterini, were distinguished by exceptionally large and wide upper canines, which were serrated on the inside. When hunting, such predators most often relied on a blow rather than a bite. Saber-toothed tigers, belonging to the tribe Smilodontini, were characterized by long, but relatively narrow upper canines, which lacked a large number of serrations. An attack with fangs from top to bottom was deadly, and in its size such a predator resembled a lion or an Amur tiger.
Representatives of the third and most ancient tribe Metailurini were characterized by the so-called “transitional stage” of canines. It is generally accepted that such predators were separated from other machairodonts quite early, and they evolved slightly differently. It is precisely because of the rather weak expression of the characteristics characteristic of saber-tooths that the animals of this tribe received the name “small cats”, or “pseudo-saber-tooths”. Recently, representatives of this tribe have ceased to be classified as subfamily Saber-toothed cats.
Lifestyle, behavior
Saber-toothed cats, in all likelihood, were not only scavengers, but also quite active predators. It is quite possible to assume that the largest species of extinct saber-toothed cats were capable of hunting large-sized prey. At the moment, direct evidence of hunting for adult mammoths or their calves is completely absent, but the skeletons of such animals found next to numerous remains of representatives of the species Homotherium serum may well indicate such a possibility.
This is interesting! The theory of behavioral characteristics is confirmed by the very strong forepaws of Smilodon, which were actively used by predators to pin prey to the ground in order to subsequently deliver a precise fatal bite.
The functional purpose of the characteristic and very long teeth of saber-toothed cats remains the subject of fierce debate to this day. It is possible that they were used to inflict deep puncture and laceration wounds on large prey, from which the victim bled to death very quickly. Many critics of this hypothesis believe that the teeth could not withstand such a load and had to break off. Therefore, the opinion is often voiced that saber-toothed cats used their fangs exclusively to simultaneously damage the trachea and carotid artery of captured, defeated prey.
Lifespan
The exact life expectancy of saber-toothed cats has not yet been established by domestic and foreign scientists.
Sexual dimorphism
There is a currently unconfirmed version that the very long teeth of the predator served as a kind of decoration for it and attracted relatives of the opposite sex during mating rituals. Elongated fangs reduced the width of the bite, but in this case, most likely, there should have been signs of sexual dimorphism.
Discovery history
The oldest finds date back 20 million years. The official version of the reason for the extinction of the Pleistocene inhabitants, according to scientists, is famine that arose under the influence of the Ice Age. This theory is confirmed by the considerable wear on the teeth of the found remains of such predators.
This is interesting! It was after the discovery of ground-down teeth that the opinion arose that in times of famine, predators began to eat the entire prey, including the bones, which injured the fangs of the saber-toothed cat.
However, modern research has not confirmed the difference between the level of wear of the teeth of extinct predatory cats in different periods of existence. Many foreign and domestic paleontologists, after a thorough analysis of the remains, came to the conclusion that the main reason for the extinction of predatory saber-toothed cats was their own behavior.
The notorious long fangs were for animals not only a terrible weapon for killing prey, but also a rather fragile part of the body of their owners. The teeth simply broke quite quickly, so subsequently, according to the logic of evolution, all species with this trait naturally became extinct.
Loading...
