Smilodon Saber Tooth Tiger Cuddlekins 30cm - Plush Toy

Physical Characteristics
Smilodon was the largest saber-toothed cat, or popularly known, tiger. It was a fierce predator about 4-5 feet (1.5 m) long and 3 feet (0.9 m) tall. It weighed about 440 lbs (200 kg). It was a bit smaller than a modern-day lion but much heavier. It had relatively short legs and a short, bobbed tail. Its front legs were especially powerful. Its body was adapted for springing onto prey, but it was not a very fast runner. Its 12-inch-long (30 cm) skull had 2 huge canine teeth. These saber-like teeth were serrated, oval in cross-section, and up to 7 inches (18 cm) long. Smilodon had powerful jaws that opened to an angle of about 120 degrees. Smilodon also had very strong jaw and neck muscles that let it stab prey with its deadly teeth.

Habitat
Saber-tooth tigers lived in grasslands, shrubby areas, and pine forests that supported the plant-eating animals that saber-tooth cats ate. Thousands of Smilodon fossils have been found in late Pleistocene tar pits and rocks from North America and South America.

Behaviour

Breeding

Diet
Smilodon was a carnivore, a meat-eater. This ferocious hunter may have eaten thick-skinned prey like mastodons (hairy, extinct elephants), horses, and bison. It probably ambushed its prey since its short legs limited its running speed. Its hunting strategy may have been to mortally wound its prey with its saber-like teeth, probably in the belly, and let the victim bleed to death. Smilodon, like most meat-eaters, may also have been a scavenger.

Strange and Interesting Facts
Smilodon is more commonly known as the Saber Toothed Tiger. Smilodon means Knife Tooth. Smilodon first appeared about 1.6 million years ago. This ferocious cat went extinct about 11,000 years ago. It lived during the last Ice Age, in which the Earth got much colder than it is now. Ice sheets and glaciers covered much of the land and sea levels fell as sea water froze into polar ice and glaciers. It lived during the Pleistocene Epoch (the early part of the Quaternary Period).