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Sabre-Toothed Tiger Was A Pussycat
The Telegraph (UK) ^
| 10-2-2007
| Roger Highfield
Posted on 10/01/2007 6:57:03 PM PDT by blam
click here to read article
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1
posted on
10/01/2007 6:57:09 PM PDT
by
blam
To: blam
I wouldn’t pet this “pussycat”. Those choppers look rather deadly.
2
posted on
10/01/2007 7:01:19 PM PDT
by
DesertSapper
(Anarchists . . . Unite!)
To: blam
Doh! Just ask Hillery! she’ll show you how they are used.
3
posted on
10/01/2007 7:02:07 PM PDT
by
tet68
( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
To: DesertSapper
This is an idiotic headline. Anything that could kill a mammoth or short-faced bear is not to be messed with. If the sabre Tooth was still around you would see Grizzly bears run from this monster.
4
posted on
10/01/2007 7:05:54 PM PDT
by
ohioman
To: blam
I tawt I taw a puddy tat!
5
posted on
10/01/2007 7:08:35 PM PDT
by
6SJ7
To: DesertSapper
Various ideas have been proposed: that the sabres were used to allow the cat to grip on to the backs of mammoths, like climbers using ice-picks, or that they were used to slice open its prey's belly.Is it possible that those big teeth just got in the way? Just an thought...
6
posted on
10/01/2007 7:13:17 PM PDT
by
chaos_5
To: blam
These are pussycats. That is a nightmare.
7
posted on
10/01/2007 7:17:46 PM PDT
by
mware
(By all that you hold dear..on this good earth... I bid you stand! Men of the West!)
To: chaos_5
The big canines probably retracted into a mouth pouch when not in use. So the animal wouldn't impale itself on its own daggers when it closed its mouth or when it sat down to eat.
8
posted on
10/01/2007 7:17:51 PM PDT
by
goldstategop
(In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
To: chaos_5
Is it possible that those big teeth just got in the way? Just an thought... That's not likely, given the length of time the critter survived (various species, about 3 million years). Those teeth were most likely evolved for a specific purpose, such as hunting the megafauna that coexisted with Smilodon for so long.
When those critters died out, so did Smilodon.
9
posted on
10/01/2007 7:22:40 PM PDT
by
Coyoteman
(Religious belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge.)
To: SunkenCiv
10
posted on
10/01/2007 7:23:13 PM PDT
by
infidel29
(Where there's a will... I want to be in it!)
To: goldstategop
No. As firmly anchored to the upper jaw as your teeth. (Unless you are a dentures kinda guy)...
11
posted on
10/01/2007 7:23:44 PM PDT
by
null and void
(<---- Awake and filled with a terrible resolve...)
To: blam
I don’t think that it really matters that it wrestled its prey to the ground before it exposed the prey’s soft underbelly and then ripped it’s throat out.
12
posted on
10/01/2007 7:29:28 PM PDT
by
Blood of Tyrants
(G-d is not a Republican. But Satan is definitely a Democrat.)
To: PinkDolphin
Jack Bauer’s cat is out roaming around again....
13
posted on
10/01/2007 7:30:48 PM PDT
by
Issaquahking
(N.H. FNC Debate "What did you do for America today?" Duncan Hunter for President!)
To: blam
The sabre-tooth tiger, whose fossils are found across North America and parts of South America, became extinct only 10,000 years ago. Not agile enough to catch smaller animals, it seems that it died out when its favoured large prey became rarer at the end of the most recent Ice Age. The author doesn't mention that this coincided with the coming of humans to North America. You know, those eco-friendly Native Americans who lived in complete harmony with nature.
14
posted on
10/01/2007 7:35:32 PM PDT
by
denydenydeny
(Expel the priest and you don't inaugurate the age of reason, you get the witch doctor--Paul Johnson)
To: blam
“Smilodon, the sabre-tooth tiger, roamed across North and South America until 10,000 years ago”
Global Warming / Bush’s fault
To: denydenydeny; blam
You know, those eco-friendly Native Americans who lived in complete harmony with nature.Apparently the Amerindians killed all of the megafauna except for the Bison, leaving the Smilodons nothing to eat (probably too slow for the Bison). They were outcompeted and had to go.
16
posted on
10/01/2007 7:44:54 PM PDT
by
Lucius Cornelius Sulla
(IF TREASON IS THE QUESTION, THEN MOVEON.ORG IS THE ANSWER!)
To: ohioman
If the sabre Tooth was still around you would see Grizzly bears run from this monster.Ohhhhh, I dunno about that.
A full-grown male grizzly bear is about three times the size of one of these cats.
My money'd be on the grizz.
Remember this guy?
17
posted on
10/01/2007 7:58:53 PM PDT
by
DuncanWaring
(The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
To: goldstategop
The big canines probably retracted into a mouth pouch when not in use. So the animal wouldn't impale itself on its own daggers when it closed its mouth or when it sat down to eat. No. Check photos of the skull.
18
posted on
10/01/2007 8:01:03 PM PDT
by
Coyoteman
(Religious belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge.)
To: blam
Maybe. That still looks like one pussy who would have been eminently capable of eating you.
19
posted on
10/01/2007 8:04:21 PM PDT
by
RichInOC
(No! BAD kitty! (No! BAD Rich!))
To: Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Apparently the Amerindians killed all of the megafauna except for the Bison, leaving the Smilodons nothing to eat (probably too slow for the Bison). They were outcompeted and had to go. There have been several recent threads about a meteor over Canada some 12,900 years ago which probably engendered the Younger Dryas glacial episode and killed off both the early big game and the early big game hunters.
Check it out.
20
posted on
10/01/2007 8:05:10 PM PDT
by
Coyoteman
(Religious belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge.)
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