In Depth Although not as famous as Smilodon, Xenosmilus was nonetheless an exceptionally powerful Pleistocene era big cat that is estimated to have weighed between 230-400 kg. This estimate puts Xenosmilus within the same weight class as the largest species of Smilodon, and even though it was smaller, Xenosmilus would have been proportionately stronger for … Read more
In Depth Paramachairodus is a genus of sabre-toothed cat that lived during the Miocene/Pliocene. The Paramachairodus genus represents one of the first true sabre-toothed cats to appear. Further Reading - Aspects of the functional morphology in the cranial and cervical skeleton of the sabre-toothed cat Paramachairodus ogygia (Kaup, 1832) (Felidae, Machairodontinae) from the Late Miocene … Read more
In Depth While Machairodus possesses enlarged canine fangs they seem to be intermediate between regular sized canines and the larger canines exhibited by other similar cats. These teeth combined with squat proportions and a robust physique has led to speculation that Machairodus’s hunting behaviour was that of an ambush predator. The popular depiction of Machairodus … Read more
In Depth One of the lesser known machairodonts, the placement of Adelphailurus within the machairodontinae has been questioned with speculation that it may be a false sabre-tooth. Adelphailurus also had a pair of second premolar teeth, a primitive feature that harks back to the early days of felid evolution. Although fossil remains of Adelphailurus are … Read more