sabercat

The fearsome sabercat might have been a formidable predator but innovative computer modelling shows it had a wimpy bite.

October 1st, 2007 2007

This is evidenced by an accumulation of the bones of young mammoths collected by the far-ranging sabercat

ScienceBlogs Channel : Life Science 2009

Among extant species, the polar bear is the largest carnivore with the largest recorded individual weighing 1,002 kg However, at least four carnivore species with a very large average body mass are known to occur in the fossil record: the short-faced bear Arctodus simus, estimated at 800–1,000 kg; the North American lion Panthera atrox and the South American sabercat Smilodon populator both around 500 kg; and Megistotherium osteothlastes (880 kg) While there is conflicting evidence about whether some of these species were pure carnivores (e.g., short-faced bear), ancient bears had morphological similarities to the carnivorous polar bear.

Archive 2007-01-01 2007