Newly identified fossil sheds light on evolutionary history of saber-toothed cats
Bias ratings based on AllSides + Ad Fontes Media. Agreement % = sources covering this story. Always read multiple sources and think critically.
A misidentified skull in a museum collection turned out to be a very early saber-toothed cat, highlighting the evolutionary tendency toward longer and longer fangs.
Fossils tucked away in a museum drawer and identified merely as “feline” are actually from a very ancient and enigmatic saber-toothed cat that inhabited North America more than 5 million years ago. Newly identified by a UC Berkeley paleontologist, the nearly complete skull helps clarify how these large-fanged felines evolved over millennia before going extinct about 10,000 years ago. One clear takeaway is that these cats started out with smaller fangs — the upper canines — but evolved increasingly longer ones that may have led to their ultimate demise.
California’s state fossil, Smilodon fatalis (originally called S. californicus), was the culmination of that trend. It had some of the largest upper canines of any saber-toothed animal — up to 7 inches long — but was the last saber-toothed animal to survive.
According to Berkeley postdoctoral fellow Narimane Chatar, the cranium, teeth and lower jaw (or mandible) she stumbled upon in the American Museum of Natural History in New York are from the species Adelphailurus kansensis, originally discovered in Kansas and known only from jaw fragments and teeth. Now, with the first complete skull of the cat, she has been able to tentatively place the animal within the family tree of saber-toothed carnivores and contrast it with the most recognizable saber-toothed cat, Smilodon, which ranged throughout the American continent. “Back in the days when we thought about sabertooths, we thought ‘Smilodon’ and that’s it.
We thought that all species that exhibited a somewhat saber-like tooth morphology must have hunted like Smilodon and behaved like Smilodon,” Chatar said. “We are now starting to see a great disparity within those animals, and especially in the early diverging taxa, like Adelphailurus kansensis.” Adapted for slicing flesh and severing arteries, the upper canines differ from those of today’s cats in being flattened laterally, like a knife, instead of having a round cross-section like the canines of lions, tigers and house cats. Their premolars are also like knives, suitable for chopping and shredding meat.
But saber-shaped teeth are more fragile than the sturdier teeth of today’s felines, as previous research has shown. Chatar herself has tested the sturdiness and killing efficiency of sabertooth upper canines and is currently conducting experiments on carnivore molars in the lab of Jack Tseng, a Berkeley professor of integrative biology. In simulations, 3D-printed saber teeth from various species proved ideal at penetrating a gel with the consistency of flesh but fractured easily against simulated bone.
In the former tests, Smilodon came out on top. In the latter, Smilodon fared the worst. Perhaps as a result of their fragile dentition, when these fierce hyper carnivores lost their preferred food — large plant eaters like bison and camels, which died out after the last Ice Age — they were outcompeted by carnivores with rounder and sturdier teeth, not to mention bone-crunching molars.
“Slicing and crushing are basically the two main things a carnivorous mammal’s teeth can do,” Chatar said. “But for saber-toothed animals, there’s a clear trade off. Those upper canines were extremely efficient but also break very easily.”
Think About This
What questions does this story raise for you? Talk with your family: Why does this news matter? Who is affected? What might happen next? Is there anything you can do?
- Ask your child: “What do you think scientists discovered about newly identified? What part surprised you most?”
- Explore together: Search for “newly identified” on NASA Kids’ Club, DK Find Out, or National Geographic Kids for more kid-friendly facts.
- Critical thinking: Science findings can change as more research is done. Ask: “How would scientists test this? What would prove them wrong?”
KiddieDaily is built for families — balanced sources, no agenda, no ads. Always read the original source and think for yourself.
Original Sources
🔍 Want to verify this story? Check it on Google Fact Check Explorer →
More stories: Kid News · Archive · Fact Check