Prehistoric Cats

With the end of the Oligocene period drawing to a close, two distinct groups of carnivores had developed. The cat family and the dog family evolved into being. The Viverridae family, which includes mongoose, civets were far off relatives of the cats. Since forests and woodlands were thinning out more grassland animals became the main meal. These grazing animals were swift runners with an acute sense of smell and sight. Some had horns for defense. Thus the predators had to become more intelligent. The cat fulfilled this role of predator very nicely. Stealth is the usual method of hunting for cats, with their padded feet they can sneak upon their prey, get within striking distance, use a short burst of speed to pounce, and knock the prey down. A fast bite will severe the spinal cord and neck arteries. Their flesh cutting teeth and jaws enable them to hold onto a struggling animal until it is dead. The cats seemed to have been divided into two groups, the sabre-tooth stabbing cats and the biting cats. Their mutual ancestor was Dinictis. While their upper canine teeth were larger than modern day cats, they were smaller that the typical sabre-tooth. They were sometimes referred to as "false sabre-tooths."

Of the sabre-tooths, Eusmilus had extremely long teeth, some as long as 7 inches (18 centimeters). In fact it had to open his mouth to the fullest extent before it could stab his prey. The jaw muscles were weak, but it had very powerful neck muscles. Another, Machairodus lived in areas of Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America.

Smilodon is one that we're familiar with. He was a fairly successful member of the sabre-tooths spread widely all over the world. Dubbed the "sabre-toothed tiger," it bears no relationship with the tiger. This predator was shorter than living lions, but nearly twice as heavy. He also had a "Bob" tail according to scientists. We could assume from this that Smilodon probably charged from ambush on his unsuspecting prey. Fossils have been found all over North America and Europe thus giving scientists some insight to this animal. From these fossils scientists have pieced together the assumption that Smilodon lived in packs and had a social structure, like our lions. This information comes from the fossils found that had serious injury to them, yet showed signs of healing. To heal they must eat, solitary hunters would not be able to hunt thus the belief that they lived in-groups, which enable the injured cats to heal and acquire food. We also know that the Smilodon could roar.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic