The Other Saber-Tooths: Scimitar-Tooth Cats of the Western Hemisphere

Like the better-known Smilodon, or saber-tooth cat, the scimitar-tooth cats of the New World were fierce predators that killed and consumed the largest of North America’s species. This volume syntheses all currently known information about the scimitar-tooths. Scimitar-tooth cats had serrated teeth that were shorter and stouter than those of Smilodon. Using a mix of new research and previously published accounts, the contributors examine all aspects of the natural history of these extinct cats. They reconstruct what scimitar-tooth cats might have looked like, discuss how they captured and killed prey, and describe their worldwide distribution and how they interacted with other, non-prey animals. Highly detailed descriptions reveal the biology of these cats, provide bone-by-bone comparisons of them to Smilodon and other cat-like carnivores, explain how they originated, and set them in an evolutionary context.