Saber-toothed tigers are considered the most aggressive predators throughout the existence of the planet. They were also called saber-toothed cats.
Their fangs were 14 centimeters long, they were deadly weapon. These powerful fangs the roots were so large that they reached the eye sockets. These fangs were shaped like sabers, as they were flattened on the sides and had serrations in front and back, hence the name.
These animals are prehistoric representatives of the cat family. Paleontologists believe that the habits and lifestyle of saber-toothed tigers were similar to modern cats, both large and small.
Most of all externally saber tooth tigers looked like Bengal tigers. But it’s difficult to call them full-fledged tigers.
Most likely, saber-toothed tigers belong to a separate branch, which is closely related to cats, since the civet became the ancestor of both.
The largest feline predators Cenozoic era were mahairods. They mainly ate rhinoceroses, which were found in abundance during the Tertiary period. Saber-toothed cats belonging to the mahairods lived in Asia and Europe. And South and North America were inhabited by saber-toothed Smilodon.
They disappeared from North America not too long ago - about 30 thousand years ago.
Niramin - Aug 1st, 2016
Several million years ago in European, American and African continents There lived a saber-toothed tiger. Since, according to scientists, they became extinct in Europe about 40,000 years ago, and in America - 10,000 years ago, the first people had to deal with them. Although these animals are often called tigers, they are not actually related to modern striped predators. Zoologists consider them as relatives of today's cats.
The family of saber-toothed cats included the European homotherium and megantereon (height at withers 70-90 cm), as well as Smilodon (1.20 m) who lived in America. The latter was the largest and had the largest upper fangs, characteristic of these animals, which were up to 20 cm long. Selected species They were very different from each other in body type. If some had strong body and short legs, like those of bears, then others had an elegant body and long limbs.
Ancient predators hunted in mixed packs and mainly attacked herbivores that grazed in wide steppes. The leaders were males who did not tolerate young competitors and killed the descendants of their predecessors. It is assumed that even mammoths and elephants became victims of the saber-toothed tiger, but this has not yet been proven. With their large teeth they tore the trachea and carotid artery of their prey, knocking it to the ground.
According to scientists, the fangs were made of relatively soft tissue, so they broke easily. Most likely, the animals could tear only muscle meat with them, and threw everything else away. It is assumed that it was this extravagance that caused their extinction, since over time the number of herbivores decreased significantly.
And this is what saber-tooth tigers supposedly looked like - see photos and pictures:
Photo: Saber-toothed tiger. 
Smilodon. 
Homotherium. 
Photo: Megantereon.
Video: Saber-toothed tiger. 1 part
The Pleistocene era began 1.8 million years ago and ended approximately 10,000 years ago. There were several ice ages during this era. Man has already actively populated all the continents of the planet. Animals, despite their gigantic size, were already similar to modern ones.
The last ice age began to come to an end, and all the giants disappeared from the face of the Earth. What caused the death of these animals: changing conditions environment, due to climate change, disease or man hunting these giants?
Irish deer (Megaloceros)- the largest of all the deer that lived on our Earth. It lived not only in Ireland, but also in continental Europe and Asia, including Russia. The growth of the most major representatives exceeded 2 meters at the withers, and the distance between the tips of the horns was 3.7 meters!
Giant short-faced bear (Arctodus simus) had the ability to run on two long hind legs. This bear could accelerate to 64 kilometers per hour. Its height at the withers exceeded 1.5 meters, but when the animal reared, its height was almost 4 meters. This giant short-faced bear lived in Alaska and Western Canada, and may have also been found here in Chukotka.
The bones of this giant camel were discovered only two years ago. The height at the withers of this animal was close to 4 meters. This giant “ship of the desert” lived in Syria approximately 10,000 years ago.
Giant sloth (Megatherium americanum) weighed five tons. When this sloth stood on hind legs his height was almost 4 meters. This animal lived in South America, like its modern relatives, fed on leaves, only because heavy weight The giant sloth did not climb trees. There were several varieties of this sloth, some of them lived even in North America. The animal disappeared about 10,000 years ago; some representatives on the Caribbean islands existed until 1550 BC.
Saber-toothed tiger (Smilodon). There were several varieties of this animal. The largest populations of this cat lived in South and North America. The length of this tiger's teeth was 30 centimeters; ancient people often died from these cat sabers. The weight of the animal was about 360 kilograms, and the size was like that of a modern lion.
North American lion (Panthera leo atrox) exceeded the saber-tooth tiger in size, its length exceeded 2.5 meters.
Giant beaver (Castoroides ohioensis) was almost 3 meters long. Unlike the modern beaver, it did not have a flattened tail. Such a “beaver” could easily “beaver” a person for the purpose of self-defense.
Teratorn (Argentavis magnificens) was the ancestor of the giant condor. The wingspan of this bird reached up to 9 meters. The bird's weight exceeded 90 kilograms.
Mastodons (Mammut americanum), like mammoths, were covered with wool. They were somewhat smaller in size than mammoths, but larger than elephants. Their height at the withers exceeded 3 meters. Mastodons ate tree leaves.
Mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) were relatives of modern elephants. The body of mammoths was covered with thick hair. The length of the hair of this animal reached almost a meter, the length of the fangs was about 1.5 meters. Mammoths lived in the North of Eurasia and America. The mammoth lived longer than all the Ice Age giants. The most widespread extinction of mammoths occurred about 8,000 years ago. A dwarf variety of mammoth survived on the Siberian Wrangel Island until 1700 BC.
Squad - Predators
Family - Felines
Genus/Species - Smilodon. Saber-toothed tiger Smilodon
Basic data:
DIMENSIONS
Height at withers: about 1 m.
Length: body 1.5 m, skull 0.3 m.
REPRODUCTION
Puberty: no data.
Number of cubs: unknown.
Period of existence: Pleistocene era. The tiger became extinct approximately 11 thousand years ago.
LIVING PLACE
North and South America.
The saber-toothed tiger Smilodon (see photo) belonged to a separate group of predators that does not currently exist. Researchers suggest that he may have eaten carrion. This is one of the most famous representatives of his family.
PREHISTORIC FINDS
The most famous fossils were found in an oil lake in Rancha La Brea in California. The ancient lake was a watering place. Animals that came to the water often got stuck in the asphalt, becoming easy prey for predators. Oil flowed to the surface of the earth. Such a lake became a trap for the animals that lived nearby.
FOOD
Smilodon was a species of mahairod that lived in the Americas between 1.6 million and 11 thousand years ago. Based on archaeological finds, it is included in a separate evolutionary branch predatory cats. Nowadays, felines hunt by pouncing on their prey from behind, and by plunging sharp claws into it, clenching their teeth, they break the victim’s spine.
At first, scientists thought that the saber-toothed tiger pounced on the victim and killed it, inflicting deep wounds and gnawing cervical vertebrae.
He had long sharp fangs, along the edges of which there were small serrations - so he could attack animals that were larger than himself. It is now believed that the saber-toothed tiger ate carrion. The strong bend of the fangs indicates that the animal did not use them for hunting and killing, but only for cutting up prey. The saber-tooth tiger moved slowly. The fossilized remains of the skeleton show that its legs were quite short and its body massive, meaning it could not pursue prey for long. The length of its fangs suggests that the tiger could open its mouth at an angle of 120°; for comparison, modern ones are able to do this within 65°.
INTERESTING INFORMATION. DID YOU KNOW THAT...
- The name of the saber-toothed tiger does not correspond to reality - it does not have common ancestors with the tiger.
- There were several types of mahairods that lived in different periods. Smilodon lived in Europe, Africa and Asia during the Pleistocene era and until the end Ice Age.
- 12 thousand years ago, another saber-toothed tiger lived in America.
- Large fangs helped tigers cut up animal carcasses.
CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF THE SABER-TOoth TIGER. DESCRIPTION
The saber-toothed tiger belonged to the Mahairod family. It had a powerful body, about 1.5 m long, which was approximately 2/3 of the body length bengal tiger who lives in our time. Its skull reached a length of approximately 30 cm. With its mouth closed, the tips of its long fangs were below the chin.
The saber-toothed tiger could open its mouth at an angle of 120°. A modern lion can only do this at an angle of 65°. The saber-toothed tiger had long fangs with jagged edges.
- Places where fossils have been found
WHERE AND WHEN THE SABER-TOOT TIGER SMILODON LIVED
The saber-toothed tiger lived on the continent that united modern North and South America. He lived during the Pleistocene era, from approximately 1 million 600 thousand years to 11 thousand years ago. The reason for its extinction is still unknown. Fossil remains of other mahairods have been found in Africa, Europe and Asia.
Smilodon is an ancient saber-toothed tiger. Watch video (00:03:17)
Saber-toothed tiger. 1 part. Video (00:14:18)
When you hear this name, one thing comes to mind - ruthless and ferocious predator. The saber-toothed tiger is a huge cat adapted to hunting the largest prey. This giant, possessing incredible strength and armed with 17-centimeter fangs, sharp as a knife, dominated the American continents for almost 2 million years. But suddenly the saber-toothed tigers mysteriously disappeared. Today, science and the latest computer technology allow us to look back 100 centuries and bring this terrifying creature back to life.
Saber-toothed tiger. Part 2. Video (00:14:53)
In the forties of the century before last, the Danish paleontologist and naturalist Peter Wilhelm Lund first described saber-toothed tigers. In those years, during excavations in Brazil, he discovered the first remains of Smilodon.
Later, fossilized bones of these animals were found in a lake in California, where they came to drink. Since the lake was full of oil, and the remaining oil constantly flowed to the surface, animals often got stuck with their paws in this slurry and died.
Description and features of the saber-toothed tiger
The name saber-tooth, translated from Latin and ancient Greek, sounds like “knife” and “tooth”, also saber-toothed animals tigers called smilodon. They belong to the saber-toothed cat family, the genus Machairodidae.
Two million years ago, these animals inhabited the lands of North and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Saber-toothed tigers lived in period from the beginning of the Pleistocene era until the very end of the Ice Age.
Saber-toothed cats, or Smilodon, the size of an adult tiger, 300-400 kilograms. They were a meter high at the withers, and one and a half meters long throughout the body.
Scholarly historians claim that Smilodon were light brown in color, possibly with leopard spots on their backs. However, among these same scientists there is debate about the possible existence of albinos, saber tooth tigers white colors.
Their legs were short, the front ones were much larger than the back ones. Perhaps nature created them in such a way that during a hunt, a predator, having caught a prey, could use its front paws to firmly press it to the ground, and then strangle it with its fangs.
There are many on the Internet photos saber tooth tigers, which shows some of their differences from the cat family, they have a stronger physique and short tail.
The length of his fangs, taking into account the roots of the teeth themselves, was thirty centimeters. Its fangs are cone-shaped, pointed at the ends and slightly curved inward, and their inner side looks like a knife blade.
If the animal's mouth is closed, then the ends of its teeth peek out below the level of the chin. The uniqueness of this predator was that it opened its mouth unusually wide, twice as wide as the lion itself, in order to plunge its saber teeth into the body of the prey with furious force.
Habitat of the saber-toothed tiger
When settling the American continent, saber-toothed tigers preferred areas that were not overgrown with vegetation, open areas for living and hunting. There is little information about how these animals lived.
Some naturalists suggest that Smilodon led single image life. Others argue that if they lived in groups, then these were flocks in which the same number of males and females, including young offspring, lived. Male and female saber-toothed cats did not differ in size; their only difference was the short mane of the males.
Nutrition
About saber-toothed tigers it is reliably known that they ate exclusively animal food - mastodons, bison, horses, antelopes, deer, aurochs. Also, saber-toothed tigers also hunted young, still fragile mammoths. Paleontologists admit that in search of food they did not disdain carrion.
Presumably, these predators hunted in packs; females were better hunters than males and always went ahead. Having caught the prey, they killed it by pressing it down and cutting the carotid artery with sharp fangs.
Which once again proves that they belong to the cat family. After all, as you know, cats strangle the prey they catch. Unlike lions and other predators, which, having caught, tear apart the unfortunate animal.
But saber-toothed tigers were not the only hunters on inhabited lands, and they had serious competitors. For example, in South America, birds of prey competed with them, fororacos and the size of an elephant, huge sloths megatheriums, who were also not averse to feasting on meat from time to time.
IN Northern parts There were many more competitors on the American continent. This and cave lion, and a large short-faced bear, and a dire wolf and many others.
The reason for the extinction of saber-toothed tigers
IN last years, on the pages scientific journals From time to time, information appears that residents of a certain tribe saw animals described as similar to saber-toothed tigers. The natives even gave them a name - mountain lions. But there is no official confirmation that saber tooth tigers alive.
The main reason for the extinction of saber-toothed tigers was the changing Arctic vegetation. The main researcher in the field of genetics, professor at the University of Copenhagen E. Willerslev and a group of scientists from sixteen countries examined a DNA cell obtained from an ancient animal preserved in an ice floe.
From which the following conclusions were drawn: the grasses that horses, antelopes and other herbivores ate at that time were rich in protein. With the onset of the Ice Age, all vegetation froze.
After the thaw, the meadows and steppes turned green again, but nutritional value new herbs changed, its composition did not contain the required amount of protein at all. This is why all artiodactyls became extinct very quickly. And they were followed in a chain by saber-toothed tigers, who fed on them, and were simply left without food, which is why they died of hunger.
In our time high technology, with the help of computer graphics you can restore anything and go back many centuries ago. Therefore, in historical museums dedicated to ancient, extinct animals there are many graphic pictures with image saber-toothed tigers, which allow us to get to know these animals as much as possible.
Perhaps then we will begin to appreciate, love and protect nature more and saber-toothed tigers, and many other animals will not be included on the pages Red books like extinct species.
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