Did you know there were saber-toothed animals still living today???
From fanged fish to felines, here are the top 12 saber toothed animals still living
and extinct.
12.
Gorgonops
In ancient Greece, the legend of the gorgons spoke of three snake-haired sisters Stheno,
Euryale, and Medusa who were able to turn anyone who met their gazes into hard, cold
stone.
The gorgonops is a creature that was named after these mythical sisters in the 1800s,
by a man named Richard Owen.
It’s believed that this fanged predator was among the few species that are recognized
as the ancestors to some of the world’s earliest mammals.
This means that it might have had something between a cold and warm blooded metabolism,
making it a truly unique outlier in the animal kingdom, where most creatures fall firmly
into being either cold or warm blooded exclusively.
The gorgonops likely had a very thick skull to protect its massive fangs, which it would
have used to pierce the thick hides of many of the herbivores that were living during
this era.
With an alligator-like head, but a mammal-like body, this creature had an appearance that
caused it to look something like a vicious serpent and large, hairless dog!
11.
Gomphotaria
The gomphotaria was a creature that was essentially a modern day walrus, but with one key difference.
Its lower and upper jaws both had a pair of long fangs that it used to hunt its prey.
Like the current-day walrus, the gomphotaria’s diet largely consisted of shellfish.
However, the method in which gomphotaria actually ate its food differed from how its modern
day cousin gets this job done.
The walruses of today are known to suck the shellfish that they hunt from out of their
shells in order to consume them.
Unlike their modern counterpart, however, paleontologists and marine biologists suggest
that the gomphotaria most likely would have hammered and cracked open the shells of its
dinner with its powerful teeth, exposing its prey’s meat through force rather than by
pulling it out through suction.
Delicious!
10.
Musk Deer
The musk deer is a relative of the more common deer species of the world, although of course
there are a couple of differences between modern deer and this rare species.
First and foremost, this deer has heavily adapted itself and its body to live in mountainous
climates.
The musk deer’s feet are rough and just perfect for climbing and traversing rocky
and steep terrain.
It also has no antlers and, most strangely of all, during their mating season the males
all have powerful sets of fangs that protrude from their upper jaws.
Yes, Bambi with fangs!!
How creepy is that??
These seasonal fangs are used to fight off other males from prospective mates and give
the musk deer an odd, vampiric look.
In reality though, the musk deer is a pretty shy creature.
Its name comes from a musk gland that the deer has in its body that is used to make
perfumes and colognes.
Oddly enough, while it is thought to be the ancestor of the common deer, musk deer are
often said by experts to be more closely related to goats, antelopes, and other similar species.
Imagine all of those animals with fangs.
In any case, the musk deer is a great example of a living saber-toothed animal.
9.
Clouded Leopard
Another example of a saber-toothed creature that’s still around, the clouded leopard
is a small, but naturally muscular and particularly skillful member of the feline family.
The clouded leopard isn’t exactly a fully fledged saber-toothed cat, however, its fangs
are notably long and resemble those of the earliest saber-toothed cat species.
They liiiive!!
Some researchers speculate that the clouded leopard appears to be evolving into a new
species of saber-toothed cat and that it will one day be one of the first newly evolved
species of saber-toothed felines if given enough time.
Sadly, the clouded leopard is endangered and may never get to that point.
It is extinct in many countries around the world and absent from most of its original
natural habitats.
There are efforts in place that are trying to save this very special feline, but if its
habitat isn’t saved and its species isn’t preserved then what’s being done is definitely
not enough!
The loss of the clouded leopard would be a scientific shame, considering this cat offers
us a chance to glimpse how the saber toothed animals of the past might have evolved at
one time.
8.
Machaeroides I know it sounds like macaronis but i couldnt
find anywhere how to pronounce this animal!
Let me know if you know how to say it!
In the meantime ill just go with it...The machaeroides was a small, furry, ambush predator.
Despite having a tail, walking on all fours, and greatly resembling a cat, they were actually
completely unrelated to modern and ancient cat families.
Machaeroides and cats are a great example of two creatures that evolved separately,
but that also developed many of the same traits.
This small mammal had little legs that allowed it to speed up quickly to ambush prey on the
open grasslands of the Eocene era.
Despite looking somewhat like a feline creature, though, this ancient animal also had a number
of almost weasel-like traits that were present in its appearance.
However, unluckily for the machaeroides, the ancestors of modern cats of the world just
had too many natural advantages and their effectiveness would soon drive this species
beyond the brink of extinction.
It’s odd to think, but if the machaeroides had somehow managed to evolve to fit the modern
world -- and if the extremely dominant felines of its era hadn’t been around to challenge
them -- machaeroides might very well have been able to have survived until this day,
and might have been able to replace modern cats.
We all could have had mini saber-toothed macheroides running around!
7.
Saber-Toothed Salmon
Four-million years ago, a monstrous ancestor to the modern salmon swam the waters of the
Pacific ocean just off of the coast of North America.
The saber-toothed salmon, or Oncorhynchus, of the Pliocene epoch could grow to be up
to 9 feet long..
That’s taller than almost any man who’s ever lived and quite a bit larger than any
known modern salmon -- which don’t come anywhere close to being so large.
This dire-sized salmon species wasn’t just big.
It also had sinister-looking fangs that protruded down from its jaw.
This salmon species is thought to have used its signature fangs to have battled others
of its kind for dominance during its yearly mating seasons.
Based on its gill size, scientists think that this monstrous fish ate plankton and krill
as an adult and likely did not use its long teeth to kill its prey.
6.
Uintatherium
Most of the animals on this list are predators and meat eaters.
Hence the fangs!
Saber teeth are certainly an amazing tool for shredding and tearing your prey apart.
The uintatherium breaks this expectation a bit.
About the size of a modern-day white rhino, it used its teeth to gather water based plants.
To be fair, this humongous herbivore did also use its teeth to fight others of its kind
over territory, but, for the most part, it used them as a peaceful tool.
The uintatheriums would have looked very much like a blending of a rhino and a hippo, but
with a few traits that belonged to their species exclusively.
Uintatherium are known to have had large horn-like protrusions that stuck out and traced their
brow and the crown of their heads, which gave them a look all their own.
5.
Dinofelis Dinofelis means “terrible cat”.
These cats were somewhere between a lion and a leopard in size.
Most notably, they usually only hunted primates.
Yes, those primates.
Dinofelis roamed Africa, Asia, and North America, hunting baboons, monkey, and even our early
ancestors.
This ancient nightmare disappeared, along with a number of primate species, right before
the last ice age really kicked into full swing.
If these leopard-like monstrosities were still alive today, then there’s almost no doubt
that their natural taste in prey would lead them towards being one of the only animals
on Earth that naturally hunts humans.
4.
Thylacosmilus One of the saber-toothed cat’s ancient rivals,
Thylacosmilus is actually closely related to modern marsupials.
Unlike the saber-toothed cat, however, thylacosmilus fangs never stopped growing during its life.
Its teeth were actually so long that this four legged creature even evolved pouches
of skin that hung down and protected its fangs when they weren’t being used.
Unfortunately for this ancient cousin of the kangaroo, no matter how hard it tried, Thylacosmilus
just never could beat out the saber-toothed cat.
This failure would eventually cause it to go extinct when the fanged felines of its
age moved into its natural territory, and all but starved the thylacosmilus out by simply
being better than it at almost everything.
3.
Kaprosuchus
The Kaprosuchus greatly resembled a modern day crocodile, but was a good bit bigger.
These armoured hunters had a thick skin that was almost impenetrable and three rows of
saber teeth in its mouth that are unlike the teeth of any other subspecies in its family
tree.
Also unlike its modern-day cousins, and most terrifyingly, the Kaprosuchus was a completely
land based animal and may have even hunted in packs.
We can only imagine what a group of these huge reptiles might have looked like when
they were on the hunt, but we’d imagine it was an absolutely terrifying sight.
2.
Barbourofelis
These odd creatures looked like something between a bear and a massive cat.
They were about as big as a lion, but were much stronger and could stand on their back
legs like modern-day bears -- something that most cats are completely incapable of.
Unlike the cats of its age, though, the barbourofelis was a slow beast, so it likely ambushed and
stalked its prey, rather than running them down like most felines would.
That said, thanks to its crushing strength and dexterity, anything that was caught by
this unique predator was very likely to be wrestled to the ground and quickly killed
by its threatening bite.
Fighting a barbourofelis would have been like doing battle with a creature that had the
flexibility and cold instincts of a cheetah and the crushing strength and pain tolerance
of a grizzly.
1.
Saber-Toothed Cat
Like the barbourofelis, the famous saber-toothed tiger was powerful enough to hold down and
wrestle its prey.
The saber-toothed cat was actually much faster and much more agile than the barbourofelis
-- although it was not quite as strong.
The saber toothed cat made up for its lack of overwhelming strength in numbers and were
known to hunt in prides.
They either repeatedly jabbed their prey with their teeth until they were dead, or to simply
rip out an opponent’s windpipe in one fell swoop.
It was the saber toothed cat’s sheer, awesome agility that made a pack of these beasts a
threat to almost any creature.
A pride of saber toothed cats would systematically pick away, weaken, and destroy their prey,
before mercilessly going in for the final attack.
There were actually many, many species of saber-toothed cats.
This family of cats was so successful, that it spread all around the world and even caused
many other competing predators to go extinct.
At one time, the saber-toothed cat was even in competition with humans for territory,
land, food, and dominance.
Imagine what it would have been like to defend your home from a pride of these recently extinct
pack hunters.
Even with a number of friends on your side, I'm willing to bet that doing so would have
been pretty difficult.
That said, in the end, we were the ones that survived, but these cats stuck it out far
longer into modern history than most saber-toothed animals thanks to their adaptability and ferocious
will to survive and conquer.
Did you learn about any animals that you didn’t know existed?
Let us known in the comments below.
Remember to subscribe and see you next time!
Byeeeee