Smilodon
Smilodon fatalis
The well-preserved remains from La Brea provide exceptional insight into predators and prey at the end of the Ice Age.
Image: JJonahJackalope · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
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Sites on today's globe · 1 marker
Characteristics
- Scientific name
- Smilodon fatalis
- Period
- Late Pleistocene
- Lived
- 2.5–0.01 Ma (2.5 million years ago)
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Habitat
- Plains, Forest
- Length (estimate)
- 2 m
- Mass (estimate)
- 250 kg
Description
Smilodon was a sabre-toothed cat with short, powerful limbs and long, flattened upper canine teeth. Its build suggests ambush hunting in which it could overpower large prey, although the exact technique is inferred from anatomy. The La Brea tar pits contain hundreds of individuals, often trapped while drawn to prey. The age and sex ratios are the subject of ecological research.
Habitat
Open grasslands, scrubland and forests of the Americas.
Fossil sites
La Brea Tar Pits, California
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Contemporaries in the database
Sources: Smilodon