Saber-toothed Tiger Facts

You must have enjoyed watching Ice Age, an animated movie. The main characters: Manfred "Manny", a woolly mammoth, Sid, a ground sloth, and Diego, a saber-toothed tiger and their adventures; made the movie based on prehistoric life a great watch. You must have developed your feelings of mistrust and hate for the saber-toothed tiger into admiration and love as the story unfolded. In a similar manner, this Buzzle article,will uncover interesting saber-toothed tiger facts for kids, that will help you learn more about this Smilodon and turn your curiosity into admiration for this animal.

Interesting Saber-tooth Tiger Facts

saber-toothed tiger, is often called the saber-toothed cat or Smilodon that belonged to the machairodontinae, an extinct genus. The saber-toothed tiger was native to North America and South America. The saber-toothed tiger lived during the early Pleistocene through the Lujanian stage of Pleistocene epoch. In simple words, they ruled the earth about 9 million years ago and survived up to the last ice age, about 10,000 years ago. Let us go through the interesting saber-toothed facts in detail. Scientific Classification of the Saber-tooth Tiger Kingdom Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Carnivora Family: Felidae Sub Family: Machairodontinae Genus: Smilodon Species S. fatalis, S. gracilis, Smilodon populator   * Click on the images for a better view How Were Saber-tooth Tigers Classified? The name 'saber-toothed' is used because of their maxillary canines that reached an extreme length. The canines were about 7 inches long. Although called a saber-toothed tiger, the Smilodon is not exactly a tiger. These animals belong to the subfamily Machairodontinae and tigers belong to the subfamily Pantherinae. This means they were distant relatives of the lions, tigers and cheetahs we see today. Saber-tooth Tigers Were Not Alone Although, we consider Smilodon as saber-toothed cat, their family consists of many different genera. These included the Homotherium, Barbourofelis and the Megantereon. The genus Smilodon was first described by Peter Wilhelm Lund, a Danish naturalist and paleontologist in 1841. He first found the fossils of Smilodon populator in a small town of Lagoa Santa in Brazil. There are three recognized species of saber-toothed tiger, that include: Smilodon gracilis, Smilodon fatalis and Smilodon populator. The Smilodon gracilis was the smallest member of the family. It may have weighed about a 150 pounds. The Smilodon fatalis was bigger than the former and the biggest of them all was Smilodon populator. It is thought Smilodon populator weighed about half a ton and was the largest feline that may have ever walked the earth. How did Saber-tooth Tiger Look? The saber-toothed tiger was a large, powerful and muscular cat. These cats were however, smaller than the African lions, but slightly on the heavier side. The distinguishing feature of saber-toothed tiger was their long, sharp canines. They used these sharp canines to slash through the stomach or teeth of their prey. These canines were about 12 inches long, but are thought to be brittle and could be easily broken. Their jaws could open at an angle of about 120 degrees. This helped them take a really large bite. However, the force of this bite was not very strong. This is because the animal had to protect its brittle canines from breaking off. It is very difficult to surely say, what was the color or pattern of their coat. This is because only the bones remain and skin has been disintegrated long time ago. Many scholars guess their colors as similar to the modern lions and may have been spotted, stripped or even plain in color. Thus, it is just plain guess that they either may have a coat like the lions today or something similar to our tigers. Where Did Saber-tooth Tigers Live? The saber-toothed tigers lived in North America and through South America along the Pacific coast. The saber-toothed tiger habitat consisted of wooded grasslands, scrub lands and Savannah. What Did Saber-tooth Tiger Eat? The saber-toothed tigers were obviously carnivores as indicated by their large canines. They were predators that hunted down medium-sized mammals like the bison, deer and horses. They are also thought to be scavengers. The saber-toothed tigers had baby teeth like humans. Once the baby teeth fell out, the adult canines would grow about 8 millimeters per month for 18 months. The saber-toothed could open their jaw up to 120 degrees wide and thus, helping them use their canines more accurately for biting and chewing. Saber-toothed tigers used to wrestle the prey on ground and the canines would pierce the throat and cut the jugular vein. At times it might cut through the trachea and help in killing the prey. It did not kill like the modern wild cats by crushing the windpipe. The reason may be they did not have strong jaw muscles and its skull as well as canines were not strong enough to resist the force. Thus, the skull and canines would have snapped killing or injuring the predator itself. What was the Saber-tooth Tigers Behavior Like? The saber-toothed tiger were thought to be social animals like the modern-day lions that live in prides or pairs. They may have hunted in small groups during the early part of the day. They might be sleeping or lazing around during the later part of the day, that is, afternoon. Like all cats, they could remain still for a long time, thus making them very difficult to spot. This made them great hunters as they were also strong like the tiger. The negative point of the saber-toothed tiger was that they were not as fast as the tigers. Thus, they could not run after smaller prey that was faster than they were. They would kill a prey and drag it into a bush or long shrubs to protect their kill from scavengers. Saber Saber-tooth Voice It has been seen that the saber-toothed tigers had hyoid bones, that were present in the throat supporting the larynx. These bones are seen only in cats that can roar like the lion. This helps them communicate with other cats in a complex way over long distances. Thus, it is thought, they too roared like the lion and lived in a similar social surrounding. Why did Saber-tooth Tigers Become Extinct? The saber-toothed tigers had the mastodons, ground slots and woolly mammoths for company. These animals lived during the Ice Age and became extinct about 10,000 years ago. The cause of their extinction was most likely climate change, terrain change and hunting by humans. As their prey became extinct, the saber-toothed tigers lost their primary source of food. The smaller animals were much more agile than the saber-toothed tigers. There heavy bodies and slow agility reaction did not help them catch quick and agile prey. Thus, starvation may be one of the cause of their extinction. Human population may be another cause that lead to additional pressure driving these animals to extinction. Prehistoric humans had reached North America and might have hunted these creatures down. Other than that, the ice sheets were retreated at the end of ice age. This caused the grasslands to expands and summers to turn hotter. This change of climate may have lead to Smilodon extinction. However, this part is still not clear as these animals as well as many other megafaunal species were able to survive other climatic changes on earth. What lead to their extinction actually is still not clear. Fun Saber Saber-tooth Facts for Kids The saber-toothed had a very warm fur coat that protected it from extreme weather during Ice Age. The Smilodon probably used his coat to camouflage itself during hunting. The saber-toothed tiger, used its whiskers like all cats for sense of touch during dark and feeling things around. The tail helped the saber-toothed tiger to balance, when running and leaping over prey. The saber-toothed tigers were more closely related to lions than tigers. The most common mammal fossils found in the Rancho La Brea tar pits in California are of saber-toothed tiger. These early predators lived about 1.5 million years ago and became extinct only 10 thousand years ago.

The saber-toothed tigers lived during difficult times, when the fight for survival was at its peak. They lived under extreme conditions and lived a hard life. One cannot say more about their lifestyle and behavior as they became extinct during a time when written records were impossible. The saber-toothed tigers had an impressive physical body and this surely shows they lived a dynamic life. In the end, I would just hope that we all do our bit to save tigers from extinction. Stop buying tiger fur products, tiger bone medicines, etc. to save this majestic creature from disappearing from our planet like the saber-toothed tiger. I hope this article on saber-toothed tiger facts for kids has helped you learn a bit about these mysterious cats that lived millions of years ago.