Palaeontology

Ice age predators didn't starve to death

By T.K. Randall
December 27, 2012 ·  9 comments

Image Credit: CC 3.0 Fastily Beasts such as saber-toothed cats and the American lion were long thought to have been wiped out by a lack of food brought about by human hunting and climate change, but a new study of their teeth seems to have ruled this out. Using the latest techniques, scientists examining the teeth from such animals have discovered that the last surviving generations would have had more than enough food to keep them alive.

"While we cannot determine the exact cause of their demise, it is unlikely that the extinction of these cats was a result of gradually declining prey," said Study leader Dr Larisa DeSantis. "Their teeth tell us that these cats were not desperately consuming entire carcasses, as we had expected, and instead seemed to be living the good life during the late Pleistocene, at least up until the very end."[!gad]Beasts such as saber-toothed cats and the American lion were long thought to have been wiped out by a lack of food brought about by human hunting and climate change, but a new study of their teeth seems to have ruled this out. Using the latest techniques, scientists examining the teeth from such animals have discovered that the last surviving generations would have had more than enough food to keep them alive.

"While we cannot determine the exact cause of their demise, it is unlikely that the extinction of these cats was a result of gradually declining prey," said Study leader Dr Larisa DeSantis. "Their teeth tell us that these cats were not desperately consuming entire carcasses, as we had expected, and instead seemed to be living the good life during the late Pleistocene, at least up until the very end."

Source: Independent | Comments (9)

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