Skip to main content

The Smilodon, the fantastic "saber teeth"

The Smilodon. Few prehistoric creatures are so beautiful and impressive at the same time, like this unique feline better known as "saber teeth".Experts say more than belonging to the family of big cats like the tiger or the lion, the Smilodon is more like a red lynx.

It was simply beautiful, it lived along the American continent at the end of the Pliocene and became extinct 10,000 years ago.reason? Due to the climatic change of our planet.As the temperature rose, the large dams, the large animals that used to feed: mammoths, horses, prehistoric bison...

The smallest animals ran too much and the Smilodon was not a good runner.In addition, he had to face predators more skilled than them, as was the case with the giant wolves.That is, the change of the derived ecosystems by general warming , I have just defeated these wonderful animals, which, without a doubt, we would have loved to know.

The Smilodon (saber teeth), a fierce predator

First we must clarify one aspect.There were 3 types of Smilodon: the Smilodon gracilis, Smilodon fatalis and, Smilodon populator.The latter was undoubtedly the most spectacular, the most robust and that, somehow reminds the current Bengal tiger.However, the Sable Teeth p I hate to weigh more than 400 kilos .

The Smilodon, the fantastic

But what about his teeth? Why did he have those two fangs so sharp and striking? This particular feature depended directly on their way of hunting, hence it was a trait shared by both males and females.These fangs measured about 18 centimeters , and were, so to speak, authentic knives , perfectly sharp and in turn, "sawed" inside.As we have already pointed out before, the Smilodon fed on those considered great animals, such as mammoths.

The Smilodon, the fantastic

Can you imagine a Sabertooth attacking a mammoth? It was a "killing machine" perfect, it was fast and efficient.They went straight to the neck, then, to break one of the main veins in the neck or simply fracture the spine of the animal.They were experts breaking bones, veins and arteries.They also used to block the respiratory flow of animals very effectively, thus preventing it from reaching the brain or blood or oxygen.Terrible and effective.

The Smilodon, the fantastic

It is also known that its meaning of smell was much more developed than in current predators, however, and according to experts tell us, it was not particularly fast.By their anatomy, it is known that they could jump very effectively on other larger animals, than by the force of their jaw and his fangs, he knocked them down almost instantly...But it wasn't good to chase smaller prey, ma It's light and much faster than this fierce predator.And its end, it was almost like a death announced at the time the great bison and mammoths, began to die out.

The Smilodon, the fantastic

Incredible animals that we only dare to imagine.And remember, if you liked this article, also discover if today, it would be possible to clone a mammoth.

Image: Gerard Michel, Dan Reed, Lauren Anderson

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Westermarck Effect | The explanation of the Tabu of Incest

According to its definition, a "tabu" is a morally unacceptable behavior either by a society, a human group or a religion.Incest is a sexual tabu that is present in most societies.In general, taboos usually be of a food, behavioral or language-related nature.Share in Science Daily Online to know what is called Westermarck Effect, which for many is the explanation of the Tabu of Incest . Content Index The Westermarck Effect: The psychological explanation of the Tabu of Incest Although it seems strange to us, not all societies considered incest as a tabu when it came to their rulers.By believing that the origin of kings and queens was divine and in order to preserve that superior blood, in some cultures the real incest was practiced (already in our blog we have addressed Incest among the Egyptian pharaohs and incest among the kings of Hawaii, for example). Incest is a word that comes from the Latin «incestus» or «incastus», that is to say «not chaste» and is «the p...

The story of the deer that visited a man the day before his death

This is a simple story, without artifice, without beginning but with an end that should invite us to a reflection .To which we each want to arrive, because death is something that nobody understands and that he almost always demands some faith, some hope and a personal significance that our heart wishes to offer him. The protagonists of this story are a deer, a man with cancer and his daughter, Latricia Thomas, a host of a news channel in the United States that wanted to echo what happened to her so that whoever wanted it could become aware of it.From Science Daily Online, we invite you to meet her. The history of the deer that visited a man the day before his death Latricia Thomas has been presenting the news on Channel 9 for quite some years now.It is not common that it transcends the private life of television presenters , but in this case, she herself uploaded to the media the news of her last days and in e special, the personal story that had to do with his father. Hi...

Amazing! Peanut butter can turn into diamonds, under certain conditions

The incorrigible gluttons believe that some goodies are authentic treasures for how delicious they are, like the irresistible Nutella! Something that does not differentiate us much from scientists, although their interests are not directed precisely to the taste of such delicacies, because with a series of experiments they showed that peanut butter is, in addition to succulent, a real rough diamond . We tell you how the experts managed to transform the peanut butter into this precious gem! And it was not by magic. Incredible! Peanut butter can turn into diamonds, under certain conditions A team of scientists from the University of Edinburgh got what we think is unusual and impossible: they turned a common and ordinary peanut butter into diamonds.But how did they do it? " Pressure can cause extraordinary changes to any kind of materials and create completely new ones ," Professor Malcolm McMahon, a member of the Center for Science and Extreme Conditions, and one ...

Do you work with a psychopath? Discover it!

We are not always lucky enough to work with the ideal partner.The manias of our neighbor in the office may end up getting us mad, then there is the one who is always late, who escapes everything he can… but, Can you imagine working with a psychopath? If you want to discover it, do not miss the characteristics of psychopaths at work: it is possible that the fellow who falls so badly at the bottom is a psychopath, but it can also be that with which you share coffee and talk every morning. Sadism Without a doubt, sadism is the most characteristic feature of psychopaths at work.Are you scared or motivated? If he is one of the first, he has many numbers of being a psychopath.A good boss, for many workers under his responsibility, should never use fear as an instrument to keep the troops motivated.If he does, the results will be counterproductive, but the psychopath will enjoy it. Egocentric since childhood...and megalomanos Another characteristic of psychopaths is their egocent...

John Paul Stapp, the first meat and bone dummy

Traveling in a plane of a certain company, putting on a motorcycle helmet or knowing, for example, that when our car suffers an impact at such speed the airbag will not cause us a trauma , are undoubtedly aspects that concern our security and that every company must take into account. For this, and since the 70s there are the beloved dummies, they who volunteer in the so-called crash test dummy.They have no life, do not breathe and do not even tremble when they are introduced into a vehicle to hit them against a wall or exercise certain experiments on their bodies.They are patient, silent, and their bodies, of similar weight and characteristics to the human ones, almost never leave very poorly. The dummy was created for it and they have replaced very effectively you to the corpses that were previously used or, unfortunately, to some other animal.However, in the past, certain engineering needed the experimental subject to interact with the machine, especially in those years ...

The longest vertebrates in the world!

We love history, we can't help it; and the science that walks alongside.This article introduces you to some nice animals, who live longer than anyone: the Galapagos turtles . An archipelago full of turtles In 1535 Fray Tomas de Berlanga headed from Panama-where he was bishop-to Peru with the mission, ordered by Carlos V , to act as an intermediary between Pizarro and his men, who had entered into conflict shortly after the conquest of the Inca Empire. However, bad weather and currents were diverting and took him to the accidental discovery of an archipelago, which the Galapagos baptized, for the amount of turtles they found living peacefully in it. Then, as used to happen in those times of conquest, the process of extinction of the and local species. One of pirates Before the end of the XVI century the Galapagos they became English pirate shelters that attacked Spanish ships, the first being Richard Hawkins, in 1593.Later, in the 19th century, it was ...

Eye colors: the 5 most amazing

In Science Daily Online we talk to you once about the reason why we get red eyes in flash photographs, this time we want to continue to look at the tone of our eyes .What are the least common colors? We present the 5 most «rare» colors in the human species . Eye colors: The 5 most surprising 1.Red or pink The first in the list of the least found colors among humans.This eye color is typical of those with albinism .Depending on the degree of their lack of pigmentation they will tend to be more pink or red . Like when we talk about going out with red eyes in flash photographs, in these cases something similar happens, when it gives them light, what we see in red is the reflected tone of the v blood asos in the back of the eye .If we can see them it is because there is practically no pigment covering these vessels. 2.Violet This tone is also produced by a lack of pigmentation and we can also find it in individuals albinos , but also in some people (few) who do n...

How to know if I am sterile | Causes of infertility

Although the concepts of infertility and infertility are often used as synonyms, it should be emphasized that they are not exactly the same. sterility is the inability to conceive a pregnancy after a year of attempts, while infertility implies that, even if fertilization is achieved, the embryo will not be able to develop until the end.Now, in this post we will not talk about the difference between the two, but we will try another question: How know if I am sterile or infertile . How to know if I am sterile.Causes of infertility What are the causes of infertility and infertility in women? There are several factors that cause them, many of them irreversible.Some of these obstacles are related to: Hormonal alterations in the menstrual cycle, which produce anovulation (absence of ovulation).Alterations in the neck of the uterus or cervix, such as polyps or fibroids, as after lathes in the cervical flow.Alterations of the internal anatomy of the uterus, such as endometriosis.Ano...

Can you do a head transplant?

This that sounds like science fiction or, worse still, a horror movie, could come true sooner than we think.An Italian surgeon who has been investigating the subject for some time presented in June 2014 his plans to carry out the first human head transplant in the next two years. The surgeon in question it is called Sergio Canavero .Canavero believes that a revolutionary procedure called HEAVEN-GEMINI could save the lives of people with metastases or muscle wasting disorders (such as muscular dystrophy ). In mid-2013, Canavero already pointed out some challenges for human head transplantation , among which it was important to reconnect the severed spinal cord and prevent the immune system from rejecting the donor's head.However, recently, in an editorial published in Surgical Neurology International , Canavero said he believed that these challenges can already be overcome, and noted that recent animal studies have confirmed that c transplant Human bee is "feasible....