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Saber-toothed cats became inbred–and struggled to move–before they went extinct

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Re: Saber-toothed cats became inbred–and struggled to move–before they went extinct

#31

Post by HarHarVeryFunny »

NL807 wrote: post #11

I was always puzzled how these cats actually fed. These sabre toots seem to get in the way of feeding and chewing.

There's a video on YouTube by a paleontologist giving his own theory for why sabre-tooth cats had these teeth which would be more hindrance then help in the kind of use most people imagine for them. Fossils show they couldn't open their jaws wide enough to use these teeth in stabbing fashion, except on something very thin.

The theory is that the sabre-tooths evolved to specialize in feeding on long-necked camelids (camel family) and the teeth evolved to let them deliver a fatal slicing bite to the neck. The sabre-tooths teeth fit neatly between the neck vertebra of a camelid, and have serated edges to let them slice through the tissue - the teeth are made for slicing, not stabbing (edit: as much as specialized stabbing).

Being so specialized they likely went extinct when their prey did (for whatever reason).

Re: Saber-toothed cats became inbred–and struggled to move–before they went extinct

#32

Post by Hugsbox »

NL807 wrote: post #21
t-3 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cats don't really chew much anyway. If sabre-tooths have a rough tongue like other cats, they can probably scour flesh off bones with that with little need to work over the meat with their teeth.

>Cats don't really chew much anyway. Is that actually true? If you observe domestic cats feeding, they chew a lot. Small fragments at a time and chew the crap out of it. Whether that's also true for big cats, i don't know.

They chew kibble, but they don't really encounter food in the wild that's anything like kibble. If you give them wet food, you'll notice they practically inhale it.

Re: Saber-toothed cats became inbred–and struggled to move–before they went extinct

#33

Post by branon »

NL807 wrote: post #21
t-3 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cats don't really chew much anyway. If sabre-tooths have a rough tongue like other cats, they can probably scour flesh off bones with that with little need to work over the meat with their teeth.

>Cats don't really chew much anyway. Is that actually true? If you observe domestic cats feeding, they chew a lot. Small fragments at a time and chew the crap out of it. Whether that's also true for big cats, i don't know.

My cats rarely chew, either dry or wet food, even treats they inhale and swallow without chewing. If I want them to chew, I have to give them meat trimmings or something large enough that they can't swallow it without chewing.

They seem smart enough not to choke on larger pieces of meat but it's still weird to me that they don't chew dry food.

Re: Saber-toothed cats became inbred–and struggled to move–before they went extinct

#34

Post by im3w1l »

HarHarVeryFunny wrote: post #31
NL807 wrote: post #11

I was always puzzled how these cats actually fed. These sabre toots seem to get in the way of feeding and chewing.

There's a video on YouTube by a paleontologist giving his own theory for why sabre-tooth cats had these teeth which would be more hindrance then help in the kind of use most people imagine for them. Fossils show they couldn't open their jaws wide enough to use these teeth in stabbing fashion, except on something very thin. The theory is that the sabre-tooths evolved to specialize in feeding on long-necked camelids (c…

Serrated knives are for back and forth sawing, not slicing. Would the same go for a serrated tooth?

Re: Saber-toothed cats became inbred–and struggled to move–before they went extinct

#35

Post by HarHarVeryFunny »

im3w1l wrote: post #34
HarHarVeryFunny wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a video on YouTube by a paleontologist giving his own theory for why sabre-tooth cats had these teeth which would be more hindrance then help in the kind of use most people imagine for them. Fossils show they couldn't open their jaws wide enough to use these teeth in stabbing fashion, except on something very thin. The theory is that the sabre-tooths evolved to specialize in feeding on long-necked camelids (c…

Serrated knives are for back and forth sawing, not slicing. Would the same go for a serrated tooth?

Yes, but if you imagine the dynamics, the cat chomps down on the prey's neck (which unlike anywhere else is narrow enough that it can open it's jaws wide enough to stab through) and just the natural struggle would let the serrations do their work. The cat wouldn't need to cut all the way through the neck - as soon as the arteries are cut then the prey will weaken and bleed out, which seems to be a fairly common MO among some predators.

Re: Saber-toothed cats became inbred–and struggled to move–before they went extinct

#36

Post by asdff »

conductr wrote: post #24

If you watch predator behavior, they will always go for an easy kill. The tar pit provides those opportunities. Also, if these opportunities are routine enough and occur in a hyper local area, it’s hardly even hunting they become more like scavengers patrolling the area and perhaps defending it from competition. That said, it seems more likely to me cats near the tar pits just held the territory and became inbred fro…

Tar pits are full of remains of many types of predators, not just saber tooth cats, after all.

Re: Saber-toothed cats became inbred–and struggled to move–before they went extinct

#37

Post by cineticdaffodil »

conductr wrote: post #24

If you watch predator behavior, they will always go for an easy kill. The tar pit provides those opportunities. Also, if these opportunities are routine enough and occur in a hyper local area, it’s hardly even hunting they become more like scavengers patrolling the area and perhaps defending it from competition. That said, it seems more likely to me cats near the tar pits just held the territory and became inbred fro…

Also handicapped (by age or birth) individuals in nature are always squeezed into subpar territories where they then wither and sucumb
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