jjares reviewed Saber-Toothed Tigers: The History and Legacy of the Most Famous Extinct Cat Species on + 3270 more book reviews
This book is 54-pages of wonderful information about the saber-toothed tigers, also known as the smilodons. After reading about the size of their teeth, the reader is immediately gladdened to be reassured that they are all gone.
Smilodons, surprisingly enough, had brittle teeth and their jaws were weak. However, they were heavy (compared to today's lions and tigers) and usually overwhelmed their prey with their sudden assault and heavy bodies.
The smilodons liked to attack their prey from the low branches of trees; they didn't need slim, sleek bodies because they didn't chase their prey across vast grasslands. Some varieties of these animals weighed between 400 and 800 lbs.
Quite a bit of time was spent talking about the smilodons that emerged from the La Brea Tar Pits (in Los Angeles, California).* Another shocker was the info that smilodons have been sited in Peru and Brazil in the last 100 years, or so.
* Charles Rivers Editors: "TheLa Brea Tar Pits: The History and Legacy of One of the World's Most Famous Fossil Sites."
Smilodons, surprisingly enough, had brittle teeth and their jaws were weak. However, they were heavy (compared to today's lions and tigers) and usually overwhelmed their prey with their sudden assault and heavy bodies.
The smilodons liked to attack their prey from the low branches of trees; they didn't need slim, sleek bodies because they didn't chase their prey across vast grasslands. Some varieties of these animals weighed between 400 and 800 lbs.
Quite a bit of time was spent talking about the smilodons that emerged from the La Brea Tar Pits (in Los Angeles, California).* Another shocker was the info that smilodons have been sited in Peru and Brazil in the last 100 years, or so.
* Charles Rivers Editors: "TheLa Brea Tar Pits: The History and Legacy of One of the World's Most Famous Fossil Sites."
