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Post by Lion Boss on May 28, 2004 13:18:37 GMT -5
The fabeled "Sabretooth"... I'm sure you all know of this cat. It' s one of the most famous prehistoric animals. But I'm gonna give you some info you never knew. The cat family is divided into 4 Tribes, each one has several groups of cats in it. The following chart shows the Modern and Prehistoric Big Cats: The orange ones are extinct, the blue ones are the modern. Each, is an actual Big Cat. (Ex. Panthera leo is commonly called Lion, Panthera pardus is commonly called Leopard). Under the Felis category I only listed F. Concolor (Puma/Cougar/Moutain Lion). That category actually contains all the small wildcats as well as domestic. Again, that chart only shows the Big Cats, just image how many small ones there have been. About the "sabertooth". There have been MANY, of all sizes. The common one is the Smilodon category. That's the one that is always shown. There are 3 Smilodon cats: S. gracilis - earliest and smallest. S. fatalis - the latest and the most famous (La Brea tar pits). S. populator - the South American cat, it was the largest of the Smilodon genus (about the size of the modern lion). Here's a scan of a scale comparison of S. populator and S. fatalis:
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Post by The Metallicats on Jun 1, 2004 0:19:09 GMT -5
Its sad that most big cats are extinct, including the Sabertooth. I would've wanted to see a real one.
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Post by Lion Boss on Jun 1, 2004 16:53:26 GMT -5
Sadly, yes. Today we only have 2 of the large cats (lion and tiger). In the past, there were many. All lion and tiger size.
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snakesrok
Ocelot
snakes are extremely cool!
Posts: 69
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Post by snakesrok on Jun 1, 2004 18:56:33 GMT -5
Its sad that most big cats are extinct, including the Sabertooth. I would've wanted to see a real one. o how i wish they were still here!
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snakesrok
Ocelot
snakes are extremely cool!
Posts: 69
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Post by snakesrok on Jun 3, 2004 19:39:16 GMT -5
if those were here we woul probably make them xtinct
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snakesrok
Ocelot
snakes are extremely cool!
Posts: 69
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Post by snakesrok on Jun 3, 2004 19:46:58 GMT -5
we got 7 cats there are 38 in all, that averages1 in every 6.5 cats!
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Post by Lion Boss on Jun 4, 2004 0:13:42 GMT -5
Remember, not all of those in the chart were giants. Most were leopard to jaguar size.
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Post by The Metallicats on Jun 4, 2004 13:01:27 GMT -5
Hmmmm......... I got an idea for an Animal Face-Off match. Sabertooth Tiger vs. Lion.
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Post by Lion Boss on Jun 4, 2004 13:27:38 GMT -5
There's not such thing as a Sabretooth tiger.
You're thinking of a Smilodon. And the biggest one was the South American Smilodon populator. That would be a good fight.
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Post by The Metallicats on Jun 4, 2004 15:59:50 GMT -5
I know the sabertooth doesn't exist, I just saying if it did. The Smilodon is a good fight too.
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Post by Lion Boss on Jun 4, 2004 16:07:21 GMT -5
NO! The name "Sabertooth tiger" is not real. There is no such thing and never was.
There have been many sabreooth cats, big and small. The large one included the most famous of all, Smilodon. As well as the Homotherium lineage.
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Post by The Metallicats on Jun 4, 2004 16:09:07 GMT -5
So the Sabertooth is just a myth... sorry.
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Post by Lion Boss on Jun 5, 2004 14:05:53 GMT -5
No, it's just people's common beliefs. Most people don't know anything about prehistoric animals.
When most think of a prehistoric mammal they think of a "Mammoth" and a "Sabretooth tiger".
See, a lot of those cats in the chart are in fact sabretooth cats. There were sabretooth cats and regular biting cats.
Look at that chart, it'll explain things. Homothiriums and Machirodus were sabertooth cat families. Smilodon is just the best known of all the groups.
When you commonly read about a sabretooth cat it's Smilodon fatalis (North American) or Smilodon populator (South American).
Remember, "Homotherium", "Machirodus", "Panthera", "Smilodon", are NOT individual animals, they are groups. It's just prehistoric cats do not have common names like today's cats.
Example:
Panthera leo - Lion Panthera tigris - Tiger Smilodon populator - no common name (calling it "Smilodon" or "Sabertooth cat" is too general. It's like calling a Lion a "Panthera". That's not acurate. Tiger, Jaguar, Leopard, and Snow Leopard are "Pantheras" as well)
The other thing to keep in mind is the relation of Smilodon populator and Smilodon fatalis is different than what some think. They are not subspecies of the same cat.
Their relation is NOT like say Bengal Tiger and Siberian Tiger. (P. tigris tigris and P. tigris altaica). It's more like Lion and Leopard (both in the Panthera family, but different cats). S. fatalis and S. populator are like a lion and a leopard.
Their might have been various subspecies of both, fatalis and populator (like various tiger species), but the fossil record is silent about that.
Hope this helps.
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Post by The Metallicats on Jun 5, 2004 21:20:27 GMT -5
Okay, now I understand a bit more. Thanks! ;D
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snakesrok
Ocelot
snakes are extremely cool!
Posts: 69
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Post by snakesrok on Jun 11, 2004 15:02:10 GMT -5
ure rite most were jag size but it would ztill b kool
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