10 Facts about Saber Tooth Cats
Facts about Saber Tooth Cats explain the details about members of extinct group of predatory mammals. The primary characteristics are spotted on the canine teeth, which have the curved and long shaped shape. That is why the group is called saber tooth cats. Even though the mammals closed their mouth, the long teeth still protruded from the mouth. All of them are extinct. The experts believe that saber tooth cats lived around 33.7 million to 9,000 years ago. Why don’t you check the whole post below to find out other interesting facts about saber tooth cats?
Facts about Saber Tooth Cats 1: evolutionary lines
The divergence of saber tooth genera took place because of the distinctive evolutionary lines.
Facts about Saber Tooth Cats 2: the first split
The first split of saber tooth genera was spotted on Thylacosmilus, which took place in the end of Cretaceous. It was mostly associate with opossums and kangaroos than with felines.
Facts about Saber Tooth Cats 3: the next split
The next split took place on hyaenodonts. Others diverged after it includes oxyaenids and nimravids.
Facts about Saber Tooth Cats 4: the most notable prehistoric mammals
The most notable prehistoric mammal was smilodon. The machairodont felid was included in this extinct genus. Saber tooth cats are considered as the best-known smilodon.
Facts about Saber Tooth Cats 5: saber-toothed tigers
Smilodon was often called as saber-toothed tiger. Even though it bears the name tiger, it does not have any relation with the modern day tigers or cats.
Facts about Saber Tooth Cats 6: the place of living
The place of smilodon was located in Americas. They were traced back 2.5 million years ago to 10,000 million years ago during Pleistocene epoch.
Facts about Saber Tooth Cats 7: the genus name
The fossils of saber tooth cats were discovered in Brazil. In 1842, the genus was named Smilodon. It had three species. They were S. populator, S. fatalis and S. gracilis.
Facts about Saber Tooth Cats 8: Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California had the largest collection of Smilodon fossils. They were taken from Rancho La Brea Tar Pits.
Facts about Saber Tooth Cats 9: the physical characteristics
The physical characteristics of smilodon were robust and strong. The upper canine teeth were long, while the forelimbs were well developed.
Facts about Saber Tooth Cats 10: the weight
The weight of S. fatalis is around 350 to 620 lb or 160 to 280 kilogram. The weight of S. gracilis was around 55 to 100 kilogram.
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