A group of researchers found when and how fast saber-toothed cats got their famous sabers. Surprisingly, the ancient animals were unable to hunt until age three when their deadly-looking fangs were fully functional. But their bite was not as strong as previously thought.
Nevertheless, when their canines started to emerge, their growth rate was twice as fast as a modern-day tiger’s, the team found. The drawback of having your weapon of choice so late during maturity was that saber tooth females had to fiercely safeguard their cubs for nearly 36 months.
Another group of researchers at the University of New South Wales in Australia used X-Ray analysis, oxygen isotope tests, and a computer modern when studying several saber-toothed cat fossils.
Scientists found that the sharp long teeth didn’t involve a more powerful bite than the modern day tiger has. Before age 3, the saber tooth’s bite was one-third as powerful as a modern-day tiger, the team noted.
Senior researcher Dr Steve Wroe feared that the study’s findings may demolish the myths around the ancient cat, scientifically dubbed Smilodon fatalis, which thrived in Northern and Southern Americas about 10,000 years ago.
“For all its reputation, Smilodon had a wimpy bite. It bit like a moggy,”
Dr. Wroe quipped.
The researcher said that scientists had been debating over how strong a Smilodon’s bite was for decades. Some of the first studies had showed that it was a weak bite compared to the length of the animal’s canines, while more recent research had revealed that the bite was strong.
But the latest study concludes that indeed it was a weak bite. The Smilodon needed the teeth mostly to pin down large prey such as mammoths. A study on the ancient feline was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Academics wrote in the paper that saber-toothed cats had other features that compensated for their weak bite – strong muscles, a sturdy body, impressive claws, and a powerful neck which helped the animals to pin down prey before severing a critical artery at their victim’s neck.
Dr. Wroe argued that the feline’s strong muscles and neck helped it in wrestling with big game and pin it down to the ground. Researchers noted that Smilodons had to first immobilize their prey and go for their throat last. At that point any large animal would have died almost instantly, scientists noted.
Lions, on the other hand, need more than 13 minutes to kill their prey although they have more powerful bite.
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