Smilodon Skull & Saber-Tooth Cat History - California Geology State Fossil | Out of the Collection

[@OutdoorExistential]

Great video! Some rich and interesting history. :)

[@Jeremy.Patrich]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for your support!

[@arelialfaro793]

This is awesome!

[@Jeremy.Patrich]

I agree! It is not just a piece of art, it is a great 'hands on' way to learn about our megafauna here in California! I mean, it is also the state fossil, so you can't go wrong with that!

[@21LAZgoo]

how big is this skull, and is the 14 inch smilodon fatalis skull on boneclones the biggest fatalis specimen found so far

[@Jeremy.Patrich]

Great question! The one I am sharing is 14". According to some sources, the largest found so far is around 14", and it was found at the La Brea Tar Pits, but the largest populator has been over 16" in length.

[@21LAZgoo]

@@Jeremy.Patrich oh ok

[@21LAZgoo]

@@Jeremy.Patrich i wonder how fatalis's bite force compared to a lion that has a skull of the same length

[@Jeremy.Patrich]

This is a very interesting question, and one that I don't know. SO I have been looking it up and surprisingly... the Smilodon had a very mild bite compared to a standard lion of similar size! www.newscientist.com/article/dn12712-sabre-tooth-cat-had-a-surprisingly-delicate-bite/

[@21LAZgoo]

@@Jeremy.Patrich in that study they used a 378 mm lion skull which is one of the largest lion specimen skulls ever found, and they compared it to a smilodon skull which was at least 63 mm shorter in length than the lion skull they used which is a huge difference, i dont know why they didnt use skulls of both animals that were the same length but oh well

[@Neo-ut3gw]

How the heck can it open its mouth wide enough to make the kill ?

[@Jeremy.Patrich]

That’s a great question! Similar other cats, they had a great range of expansion because of the weak muscle structure. The Smilodon had weaker jaw muscles than other large cats with smaller teeth. The weaker muscles around the jaw joint allowed the prehistoric cat to open its mouth wider to 120 degrees.

[@niikvanb]

gotta find those soccer balls in the tar pits.

[@Jeremy.Patrich]

Right?! Darn those kids!

[@niikvanb]

@@Jeremy.Patrich can't live with em!

[@Jeremy.Patrich]

Right?! But I mean... LOOK at those Canines!

[@ainaojo925]

The smilodon looks scary 😟 so back then the animals lived in California sad part is prehistoric cat will die after prey when trying eat it don’t like the animal getting trap but they wanted to drink interesting 🤨 that sabertooth lived in California hunted mammoths 🦣 and camels 🐪

[@Jeremy.Patrich]

Absolutely correct!