Smilodon

Smilodon

Smilodon was an animal who had 7 inches long canine. Smilodon extinct million years ago. It was live in a group . It was hunting like lions.

Etymology

 Smilodon is not closely related to the tiger (or any other living felid); the latter belongs to subfamily Pantherinae, whereas Smilodon belongs to subfamily Machairodontinae. The name Smilodoncomes from Greek: σμίλη, (smilē), "carving knife" + ὀδoύς (odoús), "tooth" (whose stem is odont-, as seen in the genitive case form ὀδόντος, odóntos).

Classification

The genus Smilodon was named and described by the Danish naturalist andpalaeontologist Peter Wilhelm Lund in 1842. He found the fossils of Smilodon populatorin caves near the small town of Lagoa Santa, in Minas Gerais, Brazil. It is grouped with several species of saber-toothed cats in the subfamily Machairodontinae within the family Felidae.

Skeleton

Diet and hunting

Smilodon was likely an ambush predator and concealed itself in dense vegetation. It probably used its great upper-body strength to wrestle prey to the ground, where its long canines could deliver a deep stabbing bite to the throat which would generally cut through the jugular vein and/or the trachea and thus kill the prey very quickly.

PREY AND ENEMIES

prey

enemies