Interestingly the classic canine shear-bite first proposed by Bill Akersten in the 80s may not be feasible but based on the вЂњRobocatвЂќ experiments a different bite model may be needed. The bison gets spectacularly mangled in the process. Using a spare bison carcass, вЂњRobocatвЂќ continues the fine tradition of experimental palaeontology in trying to figure out how the heck sabretooth cats used their enormous teeth. For those who donвЂ™t know, вЂњRobocatвЂќ is a hydraulic trackhoe, modified with a scale steel model of Smilodon skull and mandible attached to a rig that approximates the movement of the lower neck and other muscles. (Image from Wikimedia Commons by Ghedoghedo)Д¬hapter 7 uses the infamous вЂњRobocatвЂќ, an invention of my friend and colleague Todd Wheeler. Some of the nails, skin, and dung from the cave. individuals at higher latitudes were in general larger than those at lower latitudes. Most interestingly, tabulation of the data seems to show that Smilodon obeyed BergmannвЂ™s rule i.e. The bones of Smilodon populator get a proper write-up and description. Right at the tip of South America, the climate is such that the preservation levels in the cave have perfectly captured a snapshot of a lost world of Pleistocene megafauna. The very first bone samples I ever analysed as a brand new PhD student were from this site, a site that has given us giant sloth skin, hair, bone, nails and dung, along with bones of sabretooths, giant shortfaced bears, giant jaguars, pumas, llamas, macrauchenia, deep-nosed horses, warrah-wolves, and other species.

Cueva del MilodГіn is ChileвЂ™s southern Patagonia is just incredible. It is, after all, the second greatest concentration of sabretooth bones known.Д¬hapter 4 deals with an amazing site, and one very close to my heart. Detailed study of the Talara material in this chapter gives insight into sexual dimorphism, ontogeny, and sociality. populator that is found east of the Andes. fatalis, specifically distinct from the larger S.

ItвЂ™s a very important site, not just for the raw number of bones but because the western Andes seem to be the southernmost extension of the range of North American S. Talara, in Peru has given nearly two thousand Smilodon bones, from at least twenty-four individuals, for study. Less well known is that there are other tarpits in Venezuela and Peru that have similar collections of extinct monsters. Many, if not most folk interested in ice age animals will have heard of the famous Rancho la Brea tarpit in downtown Los Angeles, with its millions of bones and thousands of sabretooths and dire wolves. Image В© the authorД¬hapter 3 focuses on the little known tar pit of Talara, Peru. Skull of Smilodon populator from the Lund collection in the Copenhagen museum. This chapter is beautifully illustrated with exquisite lithographs culled from various nineteenth century sources, finer than any photograph. One interesting tidbit, unknown to me is that LundвЂ™s original use of Smilo-(sabre) and odon-(tooth) actually referred to the crooked shape of the incisors and not the enormous canines, which were incompletely known at the time. Smilodon is definitely one of these with at various times and places the genera Trucifelis, Machaerodus, Munifelis, Hyaena, and Felis used for different bones and teeth. Anyone who has investigated the taxonomy of a wide ranging fossil species will know that they are usually complicated by numerous binomials having been given to what are essentially the same taxon. There is an introductory chapter on the convoluted history of how a carnassial tooth from Texas came to be the Holotype for Smilodon fatalis, and the role material collected by the great Danish naturalist Peter Lund had in erecting the species Smilodon populator. The editors are Lars Werdelin, Chris Shaw, and Greg McDonald who all have decades of experience in Pleistocene matters. The volume is pretty wide-ranging and contains a host of sabretooth experts.

It assumes a reasonable amount of familiarity with extinct cats, their anatomy, and their fossils. It follows from the International Sabertooth Workshop that took place in 2008. It is not really intended for the interested lay-reader but organised as essentially a collection of totally independent papers bound together for use by specialists in the field. Whereas вЂњThe Other Saber-toothsвЂќ deals with the less well known Homotherini tribe of the machairodont subfamily, вЂњ SmilodonвЂќ jumps into the gap containing the extinct superstar Smilodon, and the tribe Smilodontini.ДЇirst things first this is a technical book. Both volumes come from Johns Hopkins University Press. вЂњ SmilodonвЂќ is somewhat of a companion volume to another recent-ish release, namely вЂњ The Other Saber-tooths: Scimitar-tooth Cats of the Western HemisphereвЂќ. I recently bought this book (with my own money, this is an impartial review: I canвЂ™t be bought, man!).

Sabertooth ivolume 1