Smilodon, more commonly known as "Saber-Toothed Tiger" or "Saber-Toothed Cat" is a large felid that was native throughout the Americas during both the Pleistocene and Holocene. Smilodon is famous for its large fangs and muscular build.
Smilodon, more commonly known as "Saber-Toothed Tiger" or "Saber-Toothed Cat" is a large felid that was native throughout the Americas during both the Pleistocene and Holocene. Smilodon is famous for its large fangs and muscular build.
In-Game[]
Description[]
An incredibly famous animal, Smilodon is possibly the most popular prehistoric mammal of all time, only rivaled by the monumental Woolly Mammoth in terms of fame.
Comparing the two species featured in Prehistoric Kingdom, Smilodon populator is larger than Smilodon fatalis while also having a smoother skull, thicker neck, and overall bulkier proportions to accommodate its sturdy build. Smilodon fatalis also has comparatively smaller fangs than its Southern cousin.
S. populator has two skins in game, with one being smattered with small spots on a beige coat, and the other being darker brown on its dorsal side and white to beige underneath, both befitting S. populator's more open environmental preferences. S. fatalis however bears a striking smear of spots to assist in camouflaging in the more wooded environments that this species prefers.
Management[]
To be announced.
In-Game Trivia[]
Nigel Marven
Oh, boy… that's a big kitty. More commonly known as the Saber-Tooth Tiger, Smilodon makes for a formidable predator.
Nigel Marven
Despite the looks, Smilodon isn't closely related to any modern cats. It's more accurately called a machairodont. Although, I wouldn't worry too much about making the distinction, just try to keep those saber teeth away from the guests.
Nigel Marven
This large feline could gape its mouth to impressive extents: Up to 120 degrees, almost twice as much as a lion! I would love to see it in action - from a safe distance!
Nigel Marven
Many of its fossils have been excavated in tar pits, with the most prolific site being La Brea in Los Angeles, California. More than a staggering 166,000 specimens of Smilodon have been found in these sediments alone. What may have been terrible death traps in the past make for great opportunities in the present, as we bring this carnivore back to life.
Paleontology[]
Smilodon was named in 1842 by Peter Wilhelm Lund, and its name means "Knife Tooth". The original material was at first thought to belong to a hyena by Lund, but as more pieces of the animal became known to him, he recognized it as belonging to a felid. He considered naming the animal Hyaenodon due to his original identification of the animal, but the name was taken by the current creodontan holder of the name, so Lund instead named his animal Smilodon populator, "The Knife Toothed Destroyer".
Smilodon fatalis was found independently and assigned by Joseph Leidy in 1869 to the genus Felis as "Felis fatalis" as it was customary at the time for many cats both living and dead to be lumped into this genus. It was later in an 1880 article on American extinct cats that Edward Drinker Cope of Bone Wars fame pointed out the near identical nature of "Felis fatalis" and Smilodon populator and proposed a combination of the two into the current Smilodon fatalis, "The Fatal Knife Tooth".
Paleoecology[]
Smilodon is neither a true feline (Felinae) nor a panther (Pantherinae) such as Panthera, but it is rather part of a third, entirely extinct branch of Felidae called the Machairodontinae. With a powerful and stocky build, S. fatalis and S. populator were capable predators that were quite literally armed to the teeth. Its iconic fangs, which grew to be up to 28 centimeters (11 inches) long, paired nicely with its robust and muscular physique, allowing Smilodon to easily become the apex predator of the Americas and hunt prey substantially larger than itself, such as the ground sloth Megatherium, by wrestling their prey to the ground with their massive forelimbs and delivering a precise finishing bite to bring a swift end to the hunt. Smilodon is one of the largest felids known, with the largest members of S. populator possibly reaching over 400 kg in weight.
While it is often stated that S. populator outcompeted the phorusrhacid terror birds after making its way to South America, this is actually not true. Large South American terror birds had already largely gone extinct by the time S. populator evolved. In fact, the last living known large terror bird Titanis only ever coexisted with the much smaller Smilodon gracilis in North America, with S. gracilis only later evolving into the two larger Smilodon species seen in Prehistoric Kingdom after Titanis and other predators went extinct due to climate shifts. This left the apex predator niche open for these saber-cats to exploit to great effect, with Smilodon reigning over the Americas all the way up to just 10,000 years ago.
Gallery[]
![[1]](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/pkgame/images/8/8c/Smilodon_Sequence/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/200?cb=20201124074001 "Smilodon Sequence (16 KB)")
Trivia[]
- S. fatalis skin "Feral"is based loosely off of Clouded Leopards, due to some similarity in overall habitat/foliage and niche, giving it better adapted camouflage.
- S. populator's skin "Dauntless" received an update in Update 8 (EA 1.1.532) that changed the belly of the skin from beige to white.
- Individuals resembling the original version can still be created occasionally through random variation.
- One of the most famous prehistoric animals of all time, Smilodon has been featured in dozens of pieces of media, including the animated Ice Age franchise, the Walking with Beasts mini-series, as well as Prehistoric Park, a piece of media that has inspired parts of Prehistoric Kingdom, and a cameo in Primeval, appearing in a few episodes.
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