Smilodon populator
"Devastating knife-tooth"
"smy-lo-don pop-yoo-lay-tor"
Smilodon populator was one of the biggest cats of all time. It was the largest of the saber-tooths, and lived in South America during the Late Pleistocene: about two million to 10,000 years ago. It originally evolved from ancestors that invaded the continent North America about three million years ago.
The saber-tooths were specialist predators that fed on large-bodied prey. It has been an enduring mystery as to how
Smilodon used its huge teeth when hunting. Some scientists think that it would slash at prey, causing huge wounds. A more likely theory suggests that the sabers evolved for a neck death-bite. In this scenario,
Smilodon would hold down its struggling prey with its huge arms while it gripped the animal's throat with its mouth, the sabers slashing through arteries and crushing the windpipe. Prey quickly would be killed in this fashion, making it less likely the
Smilodon would be injured.
Smilodon was unusual for big cats in that it only had a short, stubby tail. Perhaps the tail was not used for balance or communication as much as it is in other members of the cat family.
The extinction of most large-bodied herbivores 10,000 years ago meant that
Smilodon had lost all of its favorite prey. Unable to compete with small-prey specialists like the cougar, the saber-tooths became extinct about 10,000 years ago and left no descendents.
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Size: 6 ft long, 4 ft tall at shoulder
