Smilodon

Smilodon, literally means. ‘Knife-Tooth’ in Latin. This is very apt, as the fangs were over 20 centimetres in length. There were three species of Smilodon; the ‘original’, North American Smilodon gracilis. The North and South American Smilodon fatalis. And Smilodon populator, endemic to South America. Smilodon fatalis may have hunted horses, bison, camels while S. populator would have likely preyed upon Macrauchenia and Toxodon. and bison and columbian mammoth in North America, from over 900,000 years ago. When they moved South, they eventually crossed into South America (due to the land bridge formed there 3 million years ago) Over hundreds off generations, adapting to the new home of the South American grasslands (pampas) the Smilodon evolved into a variation of their North American cousins. This new breed, was even larger than its progenitor. These feline predators, overtook the Terror-Birds that had ruled the ‘lonely-continent’, for over 27 million years. Smilodon are rarely named by the general public, and are often just the wastebasket genus for many other Sabre-Toothed Cats. There is a falsity, in that many people believe in the term, ‘Sabre-Toothed Tiger’. This is highly inaccurate, and is shunned by the scientific community, much in the same way ‘raptors’ are the common term for all of the many for of Dromaeosaurid Theropod Dinosaurs. Smilodon Fatalis became extinct only 10,000 years ago, and they were cats, almost three times the size of Lions.

Smilodon Size
S. gracilis: 55 to 100 kg (120 to 220 lb)

S. fatalis: 200 - 420 kg / 150 - 200 cm long / 90 - 120 cm tall

S. populator: 220 to 400 kg (490 to 880 lb) and even one estimate of 470 kg (1,040 lb)



Enemies & Competition
Smilodon gracilis:

Smilodon gracilis would have encountered the American "Terror Birds" like Titanis, as well as Canis edwardii (Edward's Wolf).

Smilodon Fatalis:

Smilodon Fatalis had alot of Competitions, Because in the pliestocene there were many predators & scavengers like: Lynx would be strong because its size and bite Power, while Xenosmilus would be strong because it got a very very very strong body and some scientists believe that smilodon fatalis would be even stronger than Smilodon populator. Dire and Grey Wolves could make some Competition to smilodon fatalis because they hunt in big groups contains nearly from a 9-to-35 member wolf pack. American lions would have been slightly larger than the North American Smilodon gracilis and S. fatalis, but slightly smaller than the South American S. populator. The short-faced bear (Arctodus Simus) was likely the most impressive opponant of Smilodon fatalis until humans reached the new world. Early in the great American interchange, Smilodon may have encountered Thylacosmilus, a metatherian (relative of marsupials) the size of a jaguar with large upper canines. The common belief is that Smilodon out-competed the Thylacosmilus and took over their niche in South America.

Smilodon populator:

Tied with Xenosmilus and Machairodus as the largest felids, S. populator would have competed with South American Lions and Dire Wolves as well as Jaguars and relict Phorosrhachids.

New Rationale for the Reconstruction of the Face of Smilodon:
Smilodon fatalis is the best known saber-toothed cat. It hasundefinedoften been reconstructed by artists and anatomists who presumeundefinedthat this animal closely resembled a modern conical-toothedundefinedfelid, with the addition of elongated canine teeth. However,undefinedsaber-toothed canines do more than affect the distance to whichundefinedthis animal must gape to clear these teeth to make a bite. Greater gape means that there must be an increased soft tissueundefinedmass of lip and mucosa surrounding the oral opening. Theseundefinedtissues would be stretched to their maximum at full gape; howeverundefinedwhen relaxed, with the mouth closed, or open to less than fullundefinedgape, these features would still be of greater volume than inundefinedconical-toothed felids. It is likely that the upper lip inundefinedSmilodon would show a greater degree of sag than is typicalundefinedfor modern cats. The soft tissues of the nose are not preservedundefinedin Smilodon, although past reconstructions assumed that theundefinednasal profile is nearly vertical, as is the case in modern cats.undefinedWe suggest, instead, that the nasal soft tissues in Smilodon are retracted to a degree commensurate with the retraction ofundefinedthe nasal bones. The lower incisor row of Smilodon is strikinglyundefinedlarger than in the comparable-sized modern Panthera tigris, andundefinedwould therefore need to be more voluminous to stretch over suchundefinedteeth It is also likely that the lower lip in Smilodon sagged;undefinedperhaps causing this felid to resemble a bloodhound more thanundefineda conical-toothed felid.undefined

[]

Popular Culture
Smilodon gracilis:

Smilodon gracilis appeared in Prehistoric Predators in the episode terror raptor, and in Monsters Resurrected.

Smilodon fatalis:

Smilodon Fatalis appeared in Prehistoric Predators ep Saber Tooth, Wild New World ( also known as Prehistoric America), Season 2 of Primeval and episode 1 of Monsters We Met.

Smilodon populator:

Smilodon populator appeared in Walking With Beasts in the episode Saber Tooth and it appeared in the Prehistoric Park episode "Saving Saber Tooth".

Photos
