Sabre-toothed Cats

In the early Pleistocene Epoch (1.8 million to 10,000 years ago), Megantereon was the common sabre-tooth in the Mediterranean region, and extended its range into Africa and Asia during the mid-Pleistocene epoch. It is believed that this panther-sized cat possibly reached North America via the Bering Strait, and may have been an ancestor of the powerful Smilodon.

A contemporary of Megantereon was Homotherium, also called the "sword toothed cat". Its upper canines were only of moderate length, but they were laterally compressed and razor sharp, and its cheek teeth were also transformed into thin, slicing blades. Homotherium spread from Asia in the mid-Pleistocene to North America by the late Pleistocene Epoch. It had very long forelimbs, and probably preyed on young elephants, the bones of juvenile mammoths being found in its dens.

By the late Pleistocene Epoch, Smilodon had appeared in North America, and made its way into South America. It had enormous upper canines, but the protective flanges of the lower jaw were absent. It is believed that the mass extinctions of large herbiborous mammals at the end of the Pleistocene Epoch (known and the Pleistocene Extinction) would have led to the extinction of this predator.

The "false sabre-tooths" (Nimravinae) were smaller than the true sabre-toothed cats. They were swift runners that appeared during the Eocene Period, becoming common in the Oligocene Epoch in North America and Europe. They did not survive into the Pleistocene Epoch, the ice age, perhaps due to competition with the sabre-tooths and other large predators.

More information about other extinct species of Felids:

Blue Lion

Cat Trust

Photograph by Geoff Habiger of a specimen in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C..

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