Most of us are used to the company of pets. Many, to brighten up their leisure time, get small and fluffy cats from the cat family. But hardly anyone thinks of their similarity with extinct predators about 70 million years ago called saber-toothed cats.
Habitat
The extinct species flourished on the territories of African lands, and also inhabited the Eurasian and North American continents during the Early and Middle Miocene. One of its early representatives - Pseudaelurus quadridentatus - is considered the founder of the evolutionary development of the species.
During the late Miocene, a saber-toothed cat shares territories with carnivores barburofelis, which also have sharp front fangs. The last remnants of the species and its representatives disappear without a trace from the Earth about 10 thousand years ago. More of their population on the planet did not occur.
The evolution of saber-toothed cats
Since this representative of the animal world has disappeared from the face of the Earth a long time ago, most of the knowledge about it is the guesswork of scientists. But with the development of genetics, it is possible to discover new and interesting facts about extinct species. By studying the findings of archaeologists, you can create a certain image and at least learn a little about these mysterious creatures.
Scientists suggest that the saber-toothed cat in habits and on hunting had a great resemblance to tigers, although it was never part of this family. Archaeological excavations could not prove that the animals had a tiger color in the form of stripes and fluffy fur. Also, there was no evidence confirming the similarity of the habits of ancient cats with modern species, so such statements can be considered only as assumptions.
Scientific studies based on DNA studies conducted in 2005 confirm the separation of the saber-toothed cats subfamily from the great-grandfathers of our pets, but do not associate it with current feline species.
Scientists consider the well-known saber-toothed tiger, which did not belong to the representatives of tiger cats in the ice age, to be a characteristic representative of this fossil group. In the scientific world, his name is Smilodon, which translates from Latin as "destroyer."
Smilodon: species description
Smilodon is the last representative of the saber-toothed cat subfamily. The photo of the animal’s layout is amazing:
- huge, up to 20 centimeters fangs;
- the height at the withers reaches a meter and 20 cm;
- body length is more than two meters;
- weight is almost 500 kg.
Such characteristics make these animals the kings of vast territories. The tail alone was 30-35 centimeters long. The stocky physique made the appearance of smilodon atypical for feline representatives. Only cave and American lions were not inferior to him in size.
There is no doubt that the animal was a predator. Few could survive if a saber-toothed cat went hunting. Photos of the individual and its complete skeleton were taken by scientists during excavations in France.
Existing together with other representatives of the animal world, cats competed for hunting and living places with:
- cheetah and panther in African lands;
- cougars, lions, jaguars in America.
Appearance
Predators were distinguished by a conical and saber-toothed form of fangs. The structure of the smilodon jaw was such that it allowed the animal to open its mouth to 95 °, modern representatives of cat predators are able to do this no more than 65 °. Bared, curved teeth in sharpness resembled blades. In length, they reached 20 cm. The mighty beast was able to hunt other animals that were larger than it. This is what a saber-toothed cat looks like, the appearance of which frightened the inhabitants of the American continent two million years ago.
The jaws of the animal, intended to kill, put the beast in a row of dangerous predators. He had no equal opponents.
Powerful breasts and mass a quarter more than the weight of a large lion allowed animals to compete for habitats not only with each other, but also with a short-faced bear, no less strong and hardy beast. Huge sizes, a body consisting of strong muscles, teeth and knives allowed the predator to hunt the largest representatives of the fauna of that time - mammoths.
Scientists agree that it is impossible to compare an animal with a lion. Yes, the dimensions of his body are commensurate with the dimensions of the king of animals, but the structure of addition, the proportions of the shapes and the massiveness of the front legs against the background of the short hind legs do not allow such a comparison.
The muscular neck and the strength of the bite allowed the animal, grabbing prey, to tumble it down and tear it apart with its claws. In the scientific world, there is still debate about how the saber-toothed cat was painted. The predator, in all likelihood, did not have traditional tiger stripes. Most likely, dark spots adorned his skin.
Prehistoric finds
Scientists cannot name the true reasons why such an adapted kind of predators, having all the data for survival, suddenly disappeared from the face of the Earth. Only the fossilized remains of their bones and characteristic teeth remind of an animal called a saber-toothed cat. Finds on the lands of Los Angeles called the “Magic Mile” amaze the modern world with artifacts of prehistoric America.
Fearful vapors emit lakes and reservoirs in the region, and tar fumes emerge from the bowels of the earth. It was in this place that archaeologists were lucky to find the remains of the bones of this animal and many other extinct predators. Puddles of resin, disguised as thick woods, became dangerous for many representatives of the animal world. Covered with leaves and fragments of branches, they formed huge traps. Herbivores bogged down in them, thereby attracting predators to themselves, who were waiting for the same fate.
Excavations of the areas of La Brea brought up to one thousand smilodon bones, making their number unique. Asphalt and tar filling of lakes has become a good preservative material. The bones are in excellent shape. Scientists were able to make them an idea of what saber-toothed cats looked like. Photos of found minerals can be found in anthropological museums.
It should be noted that among the remains of the ice age, bones of a short-faced bear and wolf were found. These are the direct ancestors of predators living on our planet today. But the saber-toothed cat did not leave any descendants. At the moment, not a single species of direct descendants of smilodon, makhairoda and other types of saber-toothed cats has been found.
Behavioral Features
Based on the appearance, the saber-toothed cat, whose behavior was aggressive, could not move too quickly. This is due to the short tail, which does not allow to keep the body in an upright position during a rapid run. Most likely, the animal was hiding in an ambush, waiting for the victim, and quickly attacked it.
At the dawn of the Pleistocene period, the herds of herbivores were huge. It was not difficult for predators to get food for themselves. Some herbivores were gigantic in size, which did not allow the cat to hunt alone. It is likely that in this situation, predators hunted in packs. During excavations near the bones of one herbivore, several ossified remains of individuals of saber-toothed tigers were found.
Flock Care
The fact that the remains of one tiger have serious injuries that do not allow him to hunt alone indicates the possibility of living in packs, where even a wounded animal could exist due to the hunting of others.
Natural and preferred dish for any predator is meat. Smilodon can be classified as hyper-carnivorous. Squirrels of horses and bison were found in the remains of their bones.
Why do they need such teeth?
The question of the presence of teeth in a predator haunted scientists. After all, a lion does not need saber teeth for hunting. To this end, scientists conducted an experiment that recreated the power of a cat bite. It turned out that it is almost two times lower than that of a lion. It turns out that in modern lions, the strength of the bite determines the size of the victim.
The teeth of a prehistoric individual had mortal power if used forward and backward. Side-to-side movements could easily damage them, simply breaking them. When the fang got stuck in the victim’s body, it easily broke. With the loss of a tooth, the possibility of a fruitful hunt was halved, and this threatened death from starvation.
Scientists neither confirm nor reject the hypothesis that wounded animals could be eaten by their own members of the flock. Perhaps this property of the teeth did not allow the representatives of the species to survive to the present day. But this is a question for scientists.
