Saber-toothed tiger Smilodon. Report, photo, video
Niramin - Aug 1st, 2016
Several million years ago, on the European, American and African continents lived Saber-toothed tiger. Since, according to scientists, they became extinct in Europe about 40,000 years ago, and in America - 10,000 years ago, the first people had to deal with them. Although these animals are often called tigers, they are not actually related to modern striped predators. Zoologists consider them as relatives of today's cats.
The family of saber-toothed cats included the European homotherium and megantereon (height at withers 70-90 cm), as well as Smilodon (1.20 m) who lived in America. The latter was the largest and had the largest upper fangs, characteristic of these animals, which were up to 20 cm long. Selected species They were very different from each other in body type. While some had a strong body and short legs, like bears, others had an elegant body and long limbs.
Ancient predators hunted in mixed packs and mainly attacked herbivores that grazed in the wide steppes. The leaders were males who did not tolerate young competitors and killed the descendants of their predecessors. It is assumed that even mammoths and elephants became victims of the saber-toothed tiger, but this has not yet been proven. With their large teeth they tore the trachea and carotid artery of their prey, knocking it to the ground.
According to scientists, the fangs were made of relatively soft tissue, so they broke easily. Most likely, the animals could tear only muscle meat with them, and threw everything else away. It is assumed that it was this extravagance that caused their extinction, since over time the number of herbivores decreased significantly.
And this is what saber-tooth tigers supposedly looked like - see photos and pictures:
Photo: Saber-toothed tiger. 
Smilodon. 
Homotherium. 
Photo: Megantereon.
Video: Saber-toothed tiger. 1 part
Most of us became acquainted with saber-toothed tigers on the pages of Alexander Volkov’s fairy tale “The Wizard emerald city" In fact, the name “saber-toothed tiger” is far from consistent with the structure and habits of these animals, and is used mainly due to mass circulation by the media.
Modern science believes that these animals lived in prides, hunted together and were generally closer to modern lions, but this does not indicate their relationship or even identity. The ancestors of modern felids and the ancestors of saber-toothed cats separated during evolution millions of years ago. In Eurasia, saber-toothed cats are thought to have gone extinct 30,000 years ago, and in America, the last saber-toothed cat died about 10,000 years ago. However, information is coming from Africa indicating that the saber-toothed tiger may still have survived in the wilds of this continent.
One of the people talking about this possibility is Christian Le Noel, a famous French hunter of large African animals. In the second half of the twentieth century, Noel made a living by organizing African hunts for moneybags. He spent many years in the Central African Republic near Lake Chad. Below is an abbreviated translation of Le Noel's article on saber-toothed tigers.
Saber-toothed tigers in the center of Africa?
In the Central African Republic, where I worked professionally as a hunt leader and organizer for twelve years, local African tribesmen talk a lot about a saber-toothed predator they call Koq-Nindji, which translates to “mountain tiger.”
Interestingly, among the legendary animals, Koq-Nindji occupies a privileged position. The fact is that stories about this animal are common among peoples of various races and tribes, many of whom have never met each other. All these peoples call the habitat of the “mountain tiger” the area limited by the mountainous Tibesti plateau, the left tributary of the Nile - Bahr el-Ghazal, the plateaus of the Sahara desert and further the mountains of Uganda and Kenya. Thus, the appearance of this animal was noted over several thousand square kilometers.
The description of the animal practically corresponds to scientists’ understanding of the appearance of saber-tooths, whose fossil remains were discovered and dated back to 30 to 10 thousand years ago. Thus, the ancient saber-toothed tigers lived at the time when the first modern humans appeared.
Hunters of African tribes are practically illiterate people and have never seen a single textbook. I decided to take advantage of this and showed them several photographs of feline predators that exist in our time. In the middle of the stack of photographs I placed an image of a saber-toothed tiger. All the hunters chose him as the “mountain tiger” without hesitation.
As proof, they even showed me a cave into which the animal dragged the prey taken from the hunters. Then the tiger, without visible effort, carried away the carcass of a three hundred kilogram antelope. According to the hunters, this was thirty years before our conversation, which took place in 1970.
Among the peoples living in the north of the Central African Republic, stories about the “water lion” are also widespread. I'm guessing it's the same animal. Or these animals are close relatives.
There is written evidence from a European about a “water lion.” In 1910, a French column led by an officer and non-commissioned officers was sent to suppress the rebellion local residents. To cross the Bemingui River, pirogues were used that carried ten people. The military archives preserved an officer’s report about how a certain lion attacked a pirogue and carried away one of the shooters in its mouth.
According to local residents, “water lions” live in caves located on the rocky banks of local rivers. Predators are predominantly nocturnal. “Their eyes sparkle at night like carbuncles, and their roar is like the roar of the wind before a storm,” say the locals.
My friend Marcel Halley, who hunted in Gabon in the twenties of the twentieth century, witnessed a strange fact. One day, while hunting in a swamp, he was attracted by strange wheezing sounds from the thickets. He discovered an injured female hippopotamus. There were several deep and long wounds on the animal’s body that could not have been inflicted by another hippopotamus, especially since these animals never attack females. Only males fight among themselves. Among other wounds, the animal had two huge and deep ones: one on the neck and the second on the shoulder.
The wounds on the neck and shoulder were round in shape and were so deep that the arm plunged into them up to the elbow. The wounds were not yet infected, which indicated their recent origin. These wounds could very well have been inflicted by a predator resembling a saber-toothed tiger, and could not have been inflicted by any known existing predator.
In these places, representatives of flora extinct throughout the rest of the Earth have been preserved, such as, for example, cycads from the genus Encephalartos. Why not assume that animals considered fossils also managed to survive?
Saber-toothed tigers are formidable and dangerous predators the cat family, completely extinct in ancient times. Distinctive feature These animals had upper fangs of impressive size, shaped like sabers. What do modern scientists know about saber-toothed cats? Were these animals tigers? What did they look like, how did they live, and why did they disappear? Let's move back through the centuries - to those times when huge ferocious cats, going hunting, confidently walked across the planet with the gait of true animal kings...
Cat or tiger?
First of all, it should be noted that the term “saber-toothed tigers,” which seems so familiar, is actually incorrect.
Biological science knows the subfamily of saber-toothed cats (Machairodontinae). However, with tigers, these ancient animals have extremely little common features. The first and second have significantly different proportions and body structure, and the lower jaws are connected to the skull differently. In addition, the striped “tiger” coloring is not typical for any of the saber-toothed cats. Their lifestyle is also different from that of a tiger: paleontologists suggest that these animals were not loners, living and hunting in prides, like lions.
However, since the term “saber-toothed tigers” is used almost everywhere, and even in scientific literature, further we will also use this beautiful allegory.
Tribes of saber-toothed cats
Until 2000, the subfamily of saber-toothed cats, or Machairodontinae, united three large tribes.
Representatives of the first tribe, Machairodontini (sometimes also called Homoterini), are distinguished by exceptionally large upper fangs, wide and serrated on the inside. When hunting, predators relied more on striking with these devastating “weapons” than on biting. The smallest cats of the Mahairod tribe were comparable to a small modern leopard, the largest were larger than a very large tiger.
Saber-toothed tigers of the second tribe, Smilodontini, are characterized by longer upper canines, but they were significantly narrower and not as serrated as those of the Machairods. Their top-down attack with fangs was the most deadly and perfect among all saber-toothed cats. As a rule, Smilodon were the size of an Amur tiger or lion, however American look This predator is famous for being the largest saber-toothed cat in history.
The third tribe, Metailurini, is the most ancient. That is why the teeth of these animals represent a kind of “transitional stage” between the fangs of ordinary and saber-toothed cats. It is believed that they separated from other machairodonts quite early, and their evolution occurred somewhat differently. Due to the rather weak expression of “saber-toothed” characteristics, representatives of this tribe began to be classified directly as felines, considered “small cats” or “pseudo-saber-toothed”. Since 2000, this tribe is no longer included in the subfamily of interest to us.
Saber-toothed tiger period
Saber-toothed cats inhabited the Earth quite for a long time- more than twenty million years old, appearing for the first time in the early Miocene and completely disappearing in the late Pleistocene period. Over all this time, they have given rise to many genera and species, differing significantly in appearance and size. However, hypertrophied upper fangs (in some species they could reach more than twenty centimeters in length) and the ability to open their mouths very wide (sometimes even one hundred and twenty degrees!) have traditionally been their common features.
Where did saber-toothed cats live?
These animals were characterized by an ambush attack. Having crushed the victim to the ground with its powerful front paws or grabbed its throat, the saber-toothed tiger instantly cut its carotid artery and trachea. Precision bite was the main weapon of this predator - after all, fangs stuck in the bones of the prey could break. Such a mistake would be fatal for the unlucky predator, depriving him of the ability to hunt and thereby dooming him to death.
Why did saber-toothed cats become extinct?
During the Pleistocene, or "Ice Age," which spanned the period from two million to twenty-five to ten thousand years ago, many large mammals gradually disappeared - cave bears, woolly rhinoceroses, giant sloths, mammoths and saber-toothed tigers. Why did this happen?
During the period of glacial cooling, many plants rich in proteins, which served as the usual food for giant herbivores, died out. At the end of the Pleistocene period, the planet's climate became warmer and much drier. Forests were gradually replaced by open grass prairies, but the new vegetation, adapted to the changed conditions, did not have the nutritional value of the previous one. Herbivorous sloths and mammoths gradually died out, not finding enough food. Accordingly, there were fewer animals that predators could hunt. The saber-toothed tiger, an ambush hunter of big game, found himself hostage to the current situation. The structural features of its jaw apparatus did not allow it to hunt small animals; its massive physique and short tail did not allow it to catch up with fleet-footed prey in the open area, which was becoming more and more numerous. Changed conditions meant that the ancient tigers with saber fangs did not have a chance to survive. Slowly but inexorably, all species of these animals existing in nature disappeared from the face of the Earth.
Without exception, all saber-toothed cats are finally extinct animals that did not leave direct descendants.
Mahayrods
Of all known to science Among the representatives of saber-toothed cats, it was Mahairod who most closely resembled a tiger. In nature, there were several types of mahairods, which had significant differences in appearance, but they were united by the jagged edges of long upper fangs, shaped like “mahairs” - curved swords.
These ancient animals appeared in Eurasia about fifteen million years ago, and two million years have passed since their extinction. The weight of the largest representatives of this tribe reached half a ton, and in size they were quite comparable to modern horses. Archaeologists are convinced that the Machairod was the largest wild cat of its time. Hunting large herbivores - rhinoceroses and elephants, these animals quite successfully competed with other large predators of their time, dire wolves and cave bears. Machairods became the “progenitors” of a more advanced type of saber-toothed cat - Homotherium.
Homotherium
It is believed that these saber-toothed cats appeared about five million years ago at the boundary of the Miocene and Pleistocene. They were distinguished by a more slender physique, vaguely reminiscent of a modern lion. However, their hind legs were somewhat shorter than their front legs, which gave these predators some resemblance to a hyena. The upper fangs of Homotherium were shorter and wider than those of Smilodon - representatives of another tribe of saber-toothed cats that inhabited the Earth in parallel with them. Along with this, the presence large quantity The notches on the fangs allowed scientists to conclude that these animals were capable of delivering not only slashing, but also cutting blows.
Compared to other saber-toothed cats, Homotherium had very high endurance and was adapted to long (although not fast) running and walking over long distances. There are suggestions that these now extinct animals led a solitary lifestyle. However, most researchers are still inclined to believe that homotherium hunted in groups like other saber-toothed cats, since it was easier to kill stronger and larger prey.
Smilodon
Compared to other saber-toothed cats that the ancient knew animal world Earth, Smilodon had a more powerful physique. Most major representative saber-toothed cats - Smilodon populator, which lived on the American continent - grew up to one hundred and twenty-five centimeters high at the withers, and its length from the nose to the tip of the tail could be two and a half meters. The fangs of this beast (along with the roots) reached twenty-nine centimeters in length!
Smilodon lived and hunted in prides, including one or two dominant males, several females and young animals. The coloration of these animals could well be spotted, like a leopard. It is also possible that the males had a short mane.
Information about Smilodon is contained in many scientific reference books and fiction, he appears as a character in films ("Portal Jurassic period", "Prehistoric Park") and cartoons ("Ice Age"). Perhaps this is the most famous animal of all, which is commonly called saber-toothed tigers.
The clouded leopard is a modern descendant of the saber-toothed tiger
Today it is believed that the clouded leopard is the indirect, but closest relative of Smilodon. It belongs to the subfamily Pantherinae (panther cats), within which it is classified into the genus Neofelis.
Its body is quite massive and compact at the same time - these features were also inherent in the saber-toothed cats of antiquity. Among representatives of modern felines, this animal has the longest fangs (both upper and lower) relative to its own size. In addition, the jaws of this predator can open 85 degrees, which is much more than that of any other modern cat.
Although not a direct descendant of saber-toothed cats, the clouded leopard serves as clear evidence that the method of hunting using deadly “saber fangs” can well be used by a predator in modern times.
Reading the article will take: 4 min.The saber-toothed cat has sat down on a window… ©
Probably the most famous cat family from the recent past of our planet is the subfamily Machairodontinae, whose representatives are better known by the nickname “saber-toothed tigers.” Business card saber-toothed pussycats had two saber-shaped fangs on the upper jaw. That, in fact, is all the information about tigers with sabers in their mouths that is known to most of you, readers. However, this is very, very little - we will find out more. And, first of all, saber-toothed cats were not at all as huge as computer animators depicted them in the film “10,000 BC”...
Saber-toothed cat
Representatives of the cat-sabertooth family first appeared about 5 million years ago in the territory of modern Africa, during the late Miocene era. In parallel with the representatives of especially toothy pussies, there were other families of predators that grew equally large fangs - for example, the subfamily of cats Barbourofelis. By the way, saber-toothed cats had a very distant relationship with modern representatives of felines and, despite aggressive disposition, the cute fluffy creature that may be purring on your lap right now, bears a faint resemblance to a powerful saber-toothed predator from humanity's past.
Sabretooth in the movie "10,000 Years Ago"
Why weren't saber-toothed cats saber-toothed tigers? In the convinced opinion of paleontologists, modern tigers were not even close to them - firstly, saber-tooths led a different way of life than tigers, and secondly, they did not have a striped tiger color. The size of the largest individuals of the genus Smilodon - Smilodon populator - was as follows: length 240 cm (with a 30 cm tail); height at withers – 120 cm; weight – 350-400 kg. And the parameters of modern Amur tiger, the largest mustachioed-striped among modern species, are as follows: length about 350 cm (including a meter-long tail), height at the withers - 115 cm; weight – 250 kg. Paleontologists believe that saber-toothed cats hunted in packs, like a modern pride of lions, while tigers hunt alone. In addition, the tiger and Smilodon different design connections of the lower jaw and skull - in saber-tooths, the bones of the lower jaw had a special process to which muscles were attached, which allowed cats to deliver a particularly powerful blow with their fangs in the “top-down” direction. The attachment itself between the upper and lower jaws was less rigid, allowing the jaws to open 120 degrees.
Pride of saber-tooths after the hunt
Saber-toothed cats combined feline flexibility and bearish strength in their bodies. It was the similarity with modern bears that caused many years of scientific debate among leading paleontologists - who were these predators, cats or bears? They agreed that they were cats after all. Representatives of the saber-toothed family hunted something like this: having chosen a suitable victim, usually a baby mammoth or mastodon, several smilodon would drive it, one of the saber-tooths would knock the prey off its feet with a powerful throw, jump on its chest and plunge its giant fangs into its throat, while trying not to catch the bones of the spine victims. The menu of representatives of the family Machairodontinae included slow and large mammals various types, it is possible that human ancestors were also in it.
Comparative sizes of Smilodon, humans and modern tigers
Unlike large modern predators of the cat family, Smilodon were less flexible and maneuverable, because. their short tail could not serve as a balance steering wheel, helping lions and tigers quickly change direction while running and even jumping. The length of the fangs of saber-tooths was approximately 28, if you count it together with the roots and about 18-19 cm from the gum to the tip of each of these sabers. To estimate the length of one such tooth more clearly, look at the hand of an adult man - the length of one fang of a saber-toothed cat was approximately equal to the distance from the tip of the middle finger to the end of the palm. Impressive, isn't it?
Smilodon skull
After 2-3 million years of successful existence in the Northern and South America, Smilodon went completely extinct about 10,000 years ago, along with the extinction of large mammals like mammoths and mastodons. Perhaps the reason for the extinction lies in the lack of food and the inability of saber-tooths to catch more evasive creatures; perhaps our ancestors had a hand in this (at least, the ancestors of the indigenous population of the New World). In fierce competition, the Smilodon family was defeated, the representatives we are familiar with won cat family with conical fangs.
The saber-toothed tiger belongs to the family saber-toothed cats, which became extinct more than 10,000 years ago. They belong to the Mahairod family. This is how the predators were nicknamed because of their monstrously large twenty-centimeter fangs, which were shaped like the blades of daggers. And besides, they were jagged along the edges, like the weapon itself.
When the mouth was closed, the ends of the fangs were lowered below the chin. It is for this reason that the mouth itself opened twice as wide as that of a modern predator.
The purpose of this terrible weapon still remains a mystery. There are suggestions that males attracted the best females with the size of their fangs. And during the hunt, they inflicted mortal wounds on the prey, which became weak from severe blood loss and could not escape. They could also use their fangs, using them like a can opener, to rip off the skin of a captured animal.
Self animal saber tooth tiger, was very impressive and muscular, one could call him the “ideal” killer. Presumably its length was about 1.5 meters.
The body rested on short legs, and the tail looked like a stump. There was no talk of any grace or cat-like fluidity in movements with such limbs. The reaction speed, strength and instinct of the hunter came first, because he also could not pursue prey for a long time due to the structure of his body, and quickly got tired.
It is believed that the color of the tiger's skin was more spotted than striped. The main color was camouflage shades: brown or red. There are rumors about unique white saber tooth tigers.
Albinos are still found in the cat family, so we can safely say that such colors were also found in prehistoric time. Ancient people met the predator before its disappearance, and its appearance undoubtedly inspired fear. This can be experienced now by looking at photo of saber tooth tiger or seeing his remains in a museum.
The photo shows the skull of a saber-toothed tiger
Saber-toothed tigers lived in prides and could go out hunting together, which makes their way of life more similar to. There is evidence that when living together, weaker or wounded individuals fed on the successful hunting of healthy animals.
Habitat of the saber-toothed tiger
Saber-toothed tigers dominated for quite a long time in the territories of modern South and North America since the beginning of the Quaternary period– Pleistocene. In much smaller quantities, the remains of saber-toothed tigers have been found on the continents of Eurasia and Africa.
The most famous fossils were found in an oil lake in California that was once an ancient watering hole for animals. There, both the victims of saber-toothed tigers and the hunters themselves fell into a trap. Thanks to environment, the bones of both are perfectly preserved. And scientists continue to receive new information about saber-toothed tigers.
Their habitat was areas with low vegetation, similar to modern savannas and prairies. How saber tooth tigers lived and hunted in them, can be seen on pictures.
Nutrition
Like all modern predators, they were carnivores. Moreover, they were distinguished by a great need for meat and huge quantities. They hunted only large animals. These were prehistoric, three-toed, and large proboscis.
Could attack saber tooth tigers And on a small mammoth. Small animals could not supplement the diet of this predator, because he could not catch them due to his slowness and eat them; large teeth would interfere with him. Many scientists argue that the saber-toothed tiger did not refuse carrion during a bad feeding period.
Saber-toothed tiger in the museum
The reason for the extinction of saber-toothed tigers
The exact cause of the extinction has not been established. But there are several hypotheses that will help explain this fact. Two of them are directly related to the diet of this predator.
The first assumes that they ate saber tooth tigers not meat, but the blood of the prey. They used their fangs as needles. They pierced the victim's body in the liver area and lapped up the flowing blood.
The carcass itself remained untouched. This diet forced predators to hunt almost all day long and kill a lot of animals. This was possible before ice age. Later, when there was practically no game, the saber-tooths died out from starvation.
The second, more widespread, states that the extinction of saber-toothed tigers is associated with the direct disappearance of the animals that made up their usual diet. And on the other, they change lanes because of their anatomical features they just couldn't.
There are now opinions that saber tooth tigers still alive and they were seen in Central Africa hunters from local tribes who call it " mountain lion».
But this has not been documented and remains at the level of stories. Scientists do not deny the possibility that some similar specimens still exist today. If saber tooth tigers and, indeed, if they find it, they will immediately appear on the pages Red Book.
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