Best Saber-Tooth Fossils Tips You Will Read This Year!

'Sabertooth' or 'saber-tooth' may sound like an alien term, or are you familiar with it?

While Sabretooth is a fictional character created by Chris Claremont, an American writer, the sabertooth we're talking about in this article is the sabertooth fossil remains! Keep on scrolling to know more!

Saber teeth are curved, protruding, and saber-shaped canines. Humans are known to have canines, incisors, molars, premolars, and third molars, whereas different animals have different teeth depending on their diet. While herbivores or plant-eaters have incisors and flat yet wide teeth for chewing plant material, carnivores or meat-eaters have canines, carnassial teeth, and molars to cut through the tough meat and flesh of animals. Further, omnivores or animals that feed upon anything to everything have a mixture of flat and pointed teeth to chew up everything they consume. Among the various types of teeth, saber teeth are yet another category of teeth that are now found recorded in the fossil record and biology letters.

Wondering what animals had sabertooth? Predominantly carnivoran mammals, specifically saber-toothed cats, found from 42 million years ago to 11,000 years ago, between Eocene age and middle Pleistocene age, were known to have curved upper canines, extending below the lower jaw, protruding from the mouth, even when closed. Smilodon or the saber-toothed tiger, particularly Smilodon fatalis, is the common genus of saber-toothed cats. With Smilodon populator as the type species name, the genus is also known to have two species, Smilodon fatalis and Smilodon californicus. Also, different families from the suborder Feliformia, such as Machaeroides and Barbourofelidae, Inostrancevia, Apataelurus, Thylacosmilids, Machaeroides, Hoplophoneus, and Deltatheroideans, are categorized as species of a saber-toothed cat. Saber-toothed cats were known to prey on large mammals and herbivores living between Eocene age and Pleistocene age or around the same time. A sabertooth cat has a lot in common with the large carnivores and modern cats but is not related to any of the modern big cats. Like modern lions and great cats, a saber-tooth cat too hunts and kills prey for meat and flesh. With the evolution and emergence of new species, saber-toothed cats are referred to as fossil cats since sabertooth can be found in the form of fossil remains. Scroll through the article to know more about extinct saber-toothed big cats and the consecutive emergence of new species!

What are the rarest fossils in animal crossing?

The sabertooth cat is one of the rarest fossils in Animal Crossing.

A fossil is the dead remains of species that was unearthed through research and investigation. While fossil remains of some species are common, there are species that have limited fossil remains discovered so far. A saber-toothed cat has the rarest animal fossil remains, speculating the existence of a limited population of the species.

Saber Tooth Tiger Fossil Facts

The sabertooth tiger is one of the prehistoric animals that faced extinction 11,000 years ago, during the last Ice Age. Also, the American lion, Panthera Atrox, widespread in America during the same period, was the only member of the Felidae family to have an identical size to that of a sabertooth tiger.

While the sabertooth tiger had protruding upper canines, it did not have lower canines to let the upper curved canines protrude completely, past the lower jaw. The razor-sharp protruding canines were adapted quite well to cut off the meat or flesh of its prey. Sabertooth tigers were carnivorous animals who preyed upon a variety of animals. Some of the common prey are herbivorous animals like camels, mastodons, mammoths, horses, and sloths that existed until the last Ice Age. They also preyed upon some large carnivorous species. Since the canines were fragile, the sabertooth tiger would avoid biting bones. Thus, it would stab and wrestle with its prey to kill it. Also, a sabertooth tiger is often hunted in packs, procuring food for its potential mates, offspring, and old or injured companions. While a sabertooth tiger is known for its large saber-shaped protruding canines, it also had a large mouth. It had a jaw twice the size of modern cats and curved canines that could grow as long as 8 in (20.3 cm). Also, it had a short bob-like tail. Smilodon populator is known as the largest member of the Felidae family. It weighed around 485- 881 lb (220-400 kg). Other Felid members, including Smilodon fatalis and Smilodon gracilis, weighed 353-617 lb (160-280 kg) and 121-220 lb (55-100 kg), respectively.

Wondering what catalyzed the extinction of the sabertooth tiger or other sabertooth cats? While the sabertoothed animals went extinct 11,000 years ago, during the last Ice Age, the caused remains undeciphered. Lack of prey and hunting activities undertaken by humans are listed as common causes that could have led to their extinction.

Are scientists bringing back saber tooth tiger?

With evolution and advancements in technology, there is a lot harming our environment, whereas the same might be proven in favor of it too. Scientists, recently, are working on bringing extinct species to life again, and the sabertooth tiger is one of them.

A team of Japanese and Russian scientists initiated to bring woolly mammoth, yet another extinct species, back to life. An extinct species can be bought to life if a living tissue of the species is found. The team of scientists and experts is working to bring extinct species to life with new technology and research.

Saber Tooth Tiger Fossil Discovery

Sabertooth tigers were large cats categorized as ferocious predators found living in North America and South America. The first sabertooth fossil, Smilodon, was found in South America in 1842. A further sabertooth fossil was unearthed from La Brea tar pits, California, in North America in 1881. Joseph Leidy, an American paleontologist, catalyzed the discovery of a saber-toothed cat or Smilodon (Smilodon Fatalis) with the discovery of a molar of Smilodon Fatalis in 1869. Although the Smilodon, particularly Smilodon fatalis, is referred to as the sabertooth tiger, it is not even distantly related to the modern tigers, lions, or large cats.

While the sabertooth cat, specifically Smilodon fatalis, is extinct, it is artistically restored with vertebrate paleontology, the study of fossils found. Fossil material and research reports of the extinct species are found at the University of California Museum, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Florida State Museum, National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, and other study institutes and museums.