Mr Global Rankss

It has fangs up to 11 inches (28 centimeters) long and a name that sounds like the deadliest killer of the Ice Age, but the sabertooth tiger was not a tiger at all. The truth about how it hunted is stranger than the legend. Here is what scientists know about the sabertooth tiger in the Ice Age: how big it was, how it killed, why its bite was surprisingly weak, who its rivals were and how it went extinct.

Why the sabertooth was not a tiger

The “sabertooth tiger” belonged to the cat family, but it was not closely related to tigers or to any cat alive today. It came from an extinct group of cats called Machairodontinae. Ancient DNA studies suggest that the sabertooth lineage and the ancestors of living cats share a common ancestor that lived about 20 million years ago, which is why scientists generally prefer names such as sabertooth cat. The best-known member of the group is Smilodon.

Where did the sabertooth tiger live?

Smilodon lived in both North and South America until the end of the last Ice Age. Smilodon fatalis is the species preserved in the La Brea Tar Pits of California, while the larger Smilodon populator lived in South America.

How big was a sabertooth tiger?

Smilodon fatalis weighed an estimated 350 to 620 pounds (160 to 280 kilograms). Its body was muscular, with strong forelimbs that helped it wrestle prey to the ground. The largest sabertooth was its South American cousin, Smilodon populator. Estimates for its weight start at about 880 pounds (400 kilograms), and its upper canine teeth reached about 11 inches (28 centimeters), the longest of any sabertooth cat.

How the sabertooth killed its prey

Smilodon did not hunt the way a lion does. Its body build suggests it did not chase prey over long distances, and researchers think it ambushed animals from cover, using its powerful forelimbs to pin them down. Then came the bite. The most widely accepted view is a deep stabbing bite to the throat. To clear its enormous fangs, Smilodon could open its jaws to more than 110 degrees, almost twice the roughly 65 degrees of a lion.

Fossil evidence shows that Smilodon at La Brea sometimes ate bison, and tooth studies suggest it also hunted forest animals such as deer and tapirs.

The sabertooth’s weak bite

Here is the twist. In 2007, researchers Colin McHenry and Stephen Wroe used computer modeling of a Smilodon skull and found that its bite was only about one third as strong as a lion’s. The fangs were built for stabbing, not crushing. That is also why the cat first had to subdue its prey with its body, so the long teeth could be placed safely in the throat.

Ice Age predators of the La Brea Tar Pits

Smilodon did not rule alone. The tar pits of Los Angeles preserved a whole cast of rivals:

• Dire wolf: more than 4,000 individuals, the most common large predator at the tar pits.
• Sabertooth cat: more than 2,000 individuals, the second most common.
• American lion: about 80 individuals, one of the biggest cats of the Ice Age.
• Short-faced bear: at least 30 individuals. It stood about 5 feet (1.5 meters) at the shoulder and weighed well over 1,000 pounds (450 kilograms), making it one of the largest land carnivores ever. Recent research suggests it was more of an omnivore than a pure killer.

So which was the deadliest? A precision ambusher is hard to beat, but it paid a price, as the next section shows.

Why sabertooth teeth broke

Researchers compared thousands of fossil teeth of Smilodon and dire wolves from the tar pits. The sabertooth’s teeth broke more often than the wolves’. The authors suggested that sabertooth cats may have been chewing bone more often than living cats do, which is a sign of hard times and heavy competition, and that their narrow teeth were also more fragile.

How the sabertooth tiger went extinct

Smilodon disappeared at the end of the Ice Age, between roughly 13,000 and 10,000 years ago, along with most of the giant animals of the continent. Scientists point to a swinging climate, the loss of the large animals it hunted, and the arrival of humans. They still debate the exact cause, and many researchers think several factors acted together.

Which Ice Age predator would you bring back?

If you could bring back just one Ice Age predator, the sabertooth, the dire wolf, the American lion or the short-faced bear, which one would you want to see, and which one would you never want to meet? Tell us in the comments on the video.

Frequently asked questions

Are sabertooth tigers real?

Yes, they were real animals, known from thousands of fossils, but they are extinct. The most famous genus, Smilodon, died out about 10,000 years ago.

Is a sabertooth a tiger?

No. It was a member of the cat family, but from a separate extinct group that is not closely related to tigers or any living cat.

Is a sabertooth tiger a dinosaur?

No. A sabertooth was a mammal, and dinosaurs had disappeared tens of millions of years before the first sabertooth cats appeared. You can read what ended the dinosaurs in our article What Killed the Dinosaurs? The Asteroid and How We Know.

Sabertooth tiger vs lion: what is the difference?

Smilodon could open its jaws wider than a lion, more than 110 degrees against about 65, but its bite was only about a third as strong. It was built for a stabbing killing bite after wrestling prey down, not for a crushing bite.

If you enjoy Ice Age and prehistoric stories, browse more in our Animals section and subscribe to Mr Global Rankss on YouTube for more of the world’s stories.