How did sabercats use those outlandish fangs?

[Claire.]

How Did Sabercats Use Those Outlandish Fangs?

Of all the vicious smiles to have ever evolved, it’s hard to beat the grin of the aptly named Smilodon. The largest of these Ice Age cats sported canines that were 11 inches long, with fine serrations giving the fangs even more of a cutting edge. Yet despite the fact that this felid has been famous for its dental cutlery ever since the early 19th century, paleontologists are still trying to figure out just how it used its impressive teeth. How do you bite when you have an excess of tooth?

Read more: Smithsonian.com

[oldrover]

Where are we getting the 11' from? I may be way out of date with this, but I don't recall ever reading a referenced example of this. Is it like the 120 degree thylacine gape, everyone thinks they know it, but no one ever actually really said it. 

Last time I read into to this though was a long while back and a lot has changed since then. The longest sabers in those days were on a Sparrasodont (which in turn was a marsupial back then), Thylacosmilus atrox(?). And as a thylaphile I'm not giving that up until I see the evidence.

Glad to see the clouded leopard mentioned there. It's canine body size is within that of some extinct species of saber toothed cats, and its gape is huge, almost 80 degrees (about the same as the thylacine, but not quite as much because pouches always win).  

I can't help feeling not much new in extreme saber tooth feeding hypothesis in the last few decades. Comparatively weak jaw muscles, strong neck, heavy forelimbs were all doing the rounds twenty five years ago, I think I first saw the simulation of the sabers biting through a neck in cross section to severe blood vessels and windpipe, but avoiding bone in the 'Velvet Claw'.  Probably hasn't changed because it's just plain right. 

[cormac mac airt]

36 minutes ago, oldrover said:

Where are we getting the 11' from? I may be way out of date with this, but I don't recall ever reading a referenced example of this. Is it like the 120 degree thylacine gape, everyone thinks they know it, but no one ever actually really said it. 

Last time I read into to this though was a long while back and a lot has changed since then. The longest sabers in those days were on a Sparrasodont (which in turn was a marsupial back then), Thylacosmilus atrox(?). And as a thylaphile I'm not giving that up until I see the evidence.

Glad to see the clouded leopard mentioned there. It's canine body size is within that of some extinct species of saber toothed cats, and its gape is huge, almost 80 degrees (about the same as the thylacine, but not quite as much because pouches always win).  

I can't help feeling not much new in extreme saber tooth feeding hypothesis in the last few decades. Comparatively weak jaw muscles, strong neck, heavy forelimbs were all doing the rounds twenty five years ago, I think I first saw the simulation of the sabers biting through a neck in cross section to severe blood vessels and windpipe, but avoiding bone in the 'Velvet Claw'.  Probably hasn't changed because it's just plain right. 

Total length, root and all, found in Smilodon populator from South America. (Page 57)

https://books.google.com/books?id=lUB9I01-v04C&printsec=frontcover&hl=en#v=snippet&q=28 cm&f=false

cormac

[Carnoferox]

46 minutes ago, oldrover said:

I can't help feeling not much new in extreme saber tooth feeding hypothesis in the last few decades. Comparatively weak jaw muscles, strong neck, heavy forelimbs were all doing the rounds twenty five years ago, I think I first saw the simulation of the sabers biting through a neck in cross section to severe blood vessels and windpipe, but avoiding bone in the 'Velvet Claw'.  Probably hasn't changed because it's just plain right. 

While this feeding method applies to generic saber cats like Smilodon, there were exceptions among the machairodontines. Most notable is the odd Xenosmilus, aptly known as the "cookie-cutter cat", which lacked the separation between the incisors and canines like other saber cats. This allowed the incisors and canines to function as a single unite, most likely used to bite large chunks of flesh out of prey.

Edited March 21, 2017 by Carnivorfox

[oldrover]

19 hours ago, cormac mac airt said:

Total length, root and all, found in Smilodon populator from South America. (Page 57)

https://books.google.com/books?id=lUB9I01-v04C&printsec=frontcover&hl=en#v=snippet&q=28 cm&f=false

Thank you. I might get that book, it's very reasonable. So, the 11 inches is actually roots and all then? Going by fatalis, which is the only picture I have showing the whole canine in situ, that means that about just under half is inside the maxilla. Which is cheating. Mind you Thylacosmilus atrox has approximately a little under two thirds in the maxilla, but that's fine, that counts. 

[oldrover]

19 hours ago, Carnivorfox said:

While this feeding method applies to generic saber cats like Smilodon, there were exceptions among the machairodontines. Most notable is the odd Xenosmilus, aptly known as the "cookie-cutter cat", which lacked the separation between the incisors and canines like other saber cats. This allowed the incisors and canines to function as a single unite, most likely used to bite large chunks of flesh out of prey.

Very interesting, I'd never heard of Xenosmilus until your post. I really should get that book. 

[Carnoferox]

14 minutes ago, oldrover said:

I really should get that book. 

Another good one to look into would be Sabertooth by Mauricio Antón.

[oldrover]

4 minutes ago, Carnivorfox said:

Another good one to look into would be Sabertooth by Mauricio Antón.

Looks good, but I think the only option for me here would be an E-Book.