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 36 saber-toothed cats DHJanzen100698.jpg high resolution
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Again coming to us from the La Brea tar pits, the saber-toothed cat was unambiguously a killing machine, probably specializing on juvenile ground sloths and elephantoids (Proboscidians). No one knows what they really did with those enormous blade-like incisors, but they were probably for disarticulating the necks of large prey, or cutting through thick neck skin to get at the fragile parts within. Imaging what one would have done to a Boy Scout troop camping out for the night, 11,500 years ago. And not only were there carnivores, but there was also a large fauna of scavengers cleaning up behind (see below). |
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