What are facts about a sabertooth tiger?

The Saber Tooth Tigers are some of the best known and most popular of ice age animals dating from 1.5 million years ago to around 9 thousand years ago. They are among the most impressive carnivores that ever have lived. Two different types of saber toothed tigers lived in the mid-western U.S. at the end of the ice age. One of the most familiar saber tooth tiger was (genus smilodon). These cats had enlarged canines usually associated with the name saber tooth. Their canines were up to 7 inches long (18 centimeters)! The second type is the less known (genus Homotherium). These cats had shorter canines about ten centimeters (4 inches) long. The canines were also flatter at the tips. Some of the differences can be seen by comparing the homotherium cat to the smilodon cat.

Although having only fossils upon which to base theories as to how and where the
saber-toothed cat lived, several pertinent facts can be gleaned from observing such
skeletal remains. Numerous skeletons of saber-tooths have been found with one or both of their large canine teeth broken off or splintered. This suggests that even though these teeth came in very handy for killing prey, they were brittle and easily damaged..especially when accidentally striking bone. Jamming these canines between the ribs of their prey and jerking back to rip open stomach cavities accounted for a large number of broken teeth.

The saber tooth could open it's jaws to an angle of over 120 degrees and easily sink it's long fang-like canines into it's prey. The pattern of injuries which these cats sustained, deduced from careful study of skeletal remains, offers a fairly accurate
account of their everyday activity. Thickened spots on bones along the front and back legs where the cat would leap and swat down their prey indicates that the cats would leap onto some type animal.... maybe a young woolly mammoth, slamming it's chest into the mammoth and knocking it down. This action compacted the bones along the neck and spine, eventually causing these bones to fuse together. The cat would then swat at the fallen prey, not allowing it to get up....then with it's powerful forelegs the powerful predator would pull the victim over onto it's back and then drive the sharp, serrated, 8 inch canines deep into the soft belly of the downed animal.

Many times the cat's prey would not be so easily vanquished and would kick, toss, or step on these cats causing broken bones and sometimes death. Calcium buildup would form over fractures in the bones, strengthening them but often causing a misshapen limb. These injuries and indications of what kind of life a particular cat led is made evident by the careful examination of their well preserved skeletons.

As saber-toothed cats became older or if they were injured, they would often stalk prey which was weak, sick or dying. The wails of other animals would draw saber-tooths from long distances away. Often these animals were stuck in tar pits caused by a seeping of thick oil-like substances from beneath the earth. This tar substance originated from decaying plant material and from the decayed remains of millions of dinosaurs and other animals which came long before the saber-tooth.

These tar pits, located in La Brea, within Los Angeles....trapped many animals which drew large numbers of predators, including saber-tooths. As these predators tried to pull animals from the tar pits.....they themselves were trapped and perished in the gooey, thick liquid. Many excellent and complete skeletons of animals which lived during the Pleistocene era have been excavated from these tar pits. The remains are mostly intact, although the tar has stained the bones a dark brownish color.

These cats must have led a hard life.....fraught with danger and a struggle to survive but they are a most fascinating subject to research. They are one more creature who once ruled their world but are now extinct and although some facts about their existence are known......many others must be theorized and speculated upon by using physical evidence gathered by various means.