Extinct Animal
Saber Tooth Tiger
Background Information
The saber tooth tiger was a very fierce predator. It weighted about 450 pounds and some grew to a length of 15 feet. There are over one hundred species and sub-species but the smilodons was the biggest of the saber tooth tigers. A hypothesis suggests that tiger's saber teeth were used to deliver a fatal ripping wound to the belly or throat of a prey animal. Saber tooth carnivores may not have tried to grapple with prey. More likely, they delivered one crippling stab wound and then waited for the prey to die. Scientists say that saber tooth tigers probably ate mammoths, antelope, deer, and buffalo. Scientists also think that some saber tooth tigers could have lived in grassy or woody habitats, but others could have lived in icy lands. They lived in many places in Asia and Europe but some tiger remains have been found in the La Brea tar pits in California.