Saber-Toothed Tiger

Quick Take

• These fearsome apex predators had one enemy that drove them to extinction, and that enemy was not another animal. See what caused extinction →
• Thousands of saber-toothed tiger fossils were found in one single location in Los Angeles, and the way they got there is grimly ironic. Learn about La Brea fossils →
• Despite being ruthless pack hunters, fossil evidence reveals a surprisingly tender side to saber-toothed tiger social life. Explore their social behavior →
• Scientists can describe how the saber-toothed tiger sounded, but what it actually looked like remains a mystery, and the reason why might surprise you. Discover their mysterious look →

The saber-toothed tiger roamed freely in the Americas from around 2.5 million years ago until the species went extinct around 10,000 years ago. It was an apex predator and killed large animals, and while it may have been social, whether it hunted in packs remains debated. Even an American Mastodon that stood up to 10 feet (3 meters) tall and weighed up to 8 tons was not safe from this predator.

Its only true enemy was human beings. Human hunters and temperature changes are thought to have driven this animal to extinction.

Amazing Saber-Toothed Tiger Facts

• The canine teeth of the saber-toothed tiger averaged around 18 cm (7 in). They could reach up to 28 cm (11 in) long for the largest of the Smilodon populator species.
• Thousands of fossils of saber-toothed tigers were found in the La Brea Tar Pits located in Los Angeles. They are among the most commonly found fossils at that location, alongside the dire wolf, which is considered one of the most abundant large mammals recovered from the site. They got stuck in the tar trying to prey on the other animals that were stuck. This creature may have enjoyed a nice last meal before succumbing to death by slowly sinking into the tar.
• The largest of the species could weigh up to 400 kg (882 lb). They could be almost 120 cm (47.2 in) tall when standing on four legs.
• This animal is very different from a modern-day tiger or a cat. No direct descendant exists today.
• Scientists studying the fossilized hyoid bones of the saber-toothed tiger have suggested it may have roared like a modern-day lion or produced vocalizations more similar to purring cats, though the evidence remains ambiguous.

Evolution

Smilodon is distinct from other saber-toothed cats like the Homotherium because it lived in the Americas and also displayed much larger, more distinct features. Complete fossils of the Smilodon are incredibly rare and oftentimes disputed when they do emerge. Because of this, the anatomy and appearance of the saber-toothed tiger are largely unknown, and depictions rely on the help of the artist’s imagination in order to fill in the gaps that science has not yet discovered. What is known about the Smilodon is that it first evolved into a unique species during the early Pleistocene from a branch of the Felidae family tree incredibly distant from modern cats. Geneticists have also been able to use DNA from the Smilodon‘s teeth to gather a picture of what these fierce predators once ate.

Classification and Scientific Name

The scientific name for the saber-toothed tiger is Smilodon. There are three species in the Smilodon genus. Smilodon gracilis is thought to have evolved from the Meganterreon. The Meganterreon was a saber-toothed cat that lived in Africa, Eurasia, and North America. Smilodon populator and Smilodon fatalis are likely to have descended from the smaller Smilodon gracilis.

The root definition of the name Smilodon means a two-edged knife combined with a tooth. This predatory mammal was named for its prominent canine teeth. The most well-known Smilodon is Smilodon fatalis, which most people call the saber-toothed tiger.

Appearance

The fossil record preserved only the bones, making the true appearance of this animal uncertain. It is likely that a saber-toothed tiger would have the coloration that allowed it to camouflage itself in the tall grass when waiting for prey. This means it could be brown, tan, white, yellow, or even black if it hunted at night. It might have been spotted to help with the camouflage.

Behavior

The hunting strategy of this animal is probably like modern lions. It is theorized that they hunted in a pack with their pride. They likely wandered around to find an area with good prospects for a meal and then hunched down to stay perfectly still and wait for their prey to get close enough to pounce. This is predatory hunting by ambush style.

Research on the dental markings on the teeth of the saber-toothed tiger suggests that they did not eat many bones, so it is likely there was plenty of food supply available for easy-to-kill animals. Their attack method was to bite their prey with a deep gash in a vital area and then wait for the prey to bleed out.

The scientists concluded this because the large teeth could be easily broken if used to grab and hold. This creature could use its front claws and forearms to wrestle an animal down and then bite its neck to rip open its throat. Most of the saber-toothed tiger fossils found have their teeth intact, so this led to the conclusion that a fatal bite was the hunting method.

Their prey would be surprised by the attack and, with one or more bites from the group attack, be mortally wounded. These animals would then follow the prey as it tried to escape while bleeding profusely. When the animal lost enough blood, it would collapse and die. Then, it was time for a meal. All the pride would eat together, and a kill would be shared to feed the older ones, those too young to hunt, and those who were lame or sick.

The fossils show that many Smilodons lived long, healthy lives. Some recovered from injuries that would have prevented hunting, like broken bones. This meant another saber-toothed tiger helped them to get food during advanced age or recovery from an injury. They were vicious killers; nevertheless, they took good care of their own.

Habitat

This creature lived in the areas where its prey lived. This included all the areas that plant-eating animals liked, such as forests, shrubby areas, and grasslands. It must have employed the strategy of hiding near a watering spot to catch its prey unawares when the prey came up for a drink.

The habitat range was very wide. It includes all of the Americas from east to west and north to south. As this creature spread to South America from North America, its size increased, creating the new species S. populator as a descendant of the much smaller S. gracilis.

The saber-toothed tiger lived through the Ice Age and was accustomed to very cold weather. At the end of the Ice Age, when the temperature increased dramatically, it is thought that within a very short time — maybe even only about 100 years or so — the saber-toothed tiger went extinct after being on Earth for 2.5 million years.

The impact of climate change on its ability to survive was very dramatic. They still had plenty of food, but the food sources changed when all the megafauna (large animals) disappeared.

Climate change affected the animals and also brought human migration. This double impact of temperature change that disrupted the habitat and the invasion of humans was what combined to make this animal go extinct.

Diet

Studies of the fossil records of the saber-toothed tigers’ teeth indicate that they mostly ate large animals with thick skin and muscles, and then left the bones behind for some other scavenger. If they had eaten a lot of bones, this would cause an identifiable wear pattern on the teeth, which the fossils of saber-toothed tigers do not have.

The saber-toothed tiger was a very capable hunter and took down many creatures on its own, such as bison, camels, horses, woolly mammoths, mastodons (now-extinct, huge, hairy elephants), and giant sloths. It has also been theorized that Smilodons could have also exhibited scavenger-like behavior, stealing antelope, capybara, caribou, elk, oxen, peccaries, tapir, and other smaller- to medium-sized animals from other predators who had already hunted and killed them.

Predators and Threats

The only predators that hunted the saber-toothed tiger were humans. Many scientists believe that humans hunted the saber-toothed tiger to extinction. Dramatic human expansion into the Americas occurred at the time of the saber-toothed tigers’ death. Temperature rise from the climate changes at the end of the Ice Age may have also played a part in causing the saber-toothed tiger to go extinct.

Reproduction, Babies, and Lifespan

It is likely, but not known, that saber-toothed tigers were seasonally polyestrous. This means the female could go into heat more than once during the breeding season. Each year, during spring, each fertile female would get pregnant by a dominant male she accepted. The males would fight each other over the females. The gestation period for a baby saber-toothed tiger was eight months. A typical litter of cubs was three.

A saber-toothed tiger had a very long lifespan of up to forty years if it did not run into humans.

Population

It is not known exactly how many saber-toothed tigers existed. Certainly, from the thousands found at the La Brea Tar Pits, there must have been many thousands, maybe millions. Their fossils have been found all over North America and South America. This indicates a vast animal population that spread out over a large territory over many thousands of years.

It is sad to think that humans were partly or primarily responsible for the elimination of this creature. However, it was a natural enemy of humans who had to defend themselves, or else they could become the saber-toothed tiger’s next meal.

Saber-Toothed Tiger in the Zoo

The saber-toothed tiger is an extinct mammal, so it cannot be found in any modern zoo. However, there is a full-scale, realistically-looking animatronic (robotic) puppet that is a saber-toothed tiger in a show called Ice Age Encounters at the La Brea Tar Pits Museum.