page_title: Machairodontinae
section_title: Homotherium
hierarchical_section_title: Machairodontinae / Social behavior / Homotherium
caption_attribution_description: English: Mammuthus trogontherii, Steppe Mammoth. Русский: Mammuthus trogontherii - степной мамонт или трогонтериевый слон.
context_page_description: Machairodontinae is an extinct subfamily of carnivoran mammals of the family Felidae. They were found in Asia, Africa, North America, South America, and Europe from the Miocene to Pleistocene living from about 16 million until about 11,000 years ago.
  The Machairodontinae contain many of the extinct predators commonly known as "saber-toothed cats", including the famed genus Smilodon, as well as other cats with only minor increases in the size and length of their maxillary canines. The name means "dagger-tooth", from Greek μάχαιρα, dagger. Sometimes, other carnivorous mammals with elongated teeth are also called saber-toothed cats, although they do not belong to the felids. Besides the machairodonts, saber-toothed predators also arose in nimravids, barbourofelids, Machaeroidinae, Hyaenodonta and even in two groups of metatherians.
context_section_description: At Friesenhahn Cave, Texas, the remains of almost 400 juvenile mammoths were discovered along with skeletons of Homotherium. Homotherium groups have been suggested to have specialized in hunting young mammoths, and to have dragged the kills into secluded caves to eat inside, out from the open. They also retained excellent nocturnal vision, and hunting at night in the arctic regions would probably have been their prime hunting method.
  The modern lion is capable of, in large numbers, killing weakened adult and healthy subadult elephants, so similar sized Homotherium likely could have managed the same feat with juvenile mammoths. This is supported by isotopic analysis. But the idea that a cat, even one of very large size and possibly social, was able to cooperatively 'drag' a 400-pound mammoth calf any real distance into a cave without damaging its teeth has aroused great criticism. Its sloped back and powerful lumbar section of its vertebrae suggested a bear-like build, so it might have been capable of pulling weights, but breaking canines, a fate suffered by Machairodus and Smilodon with some frequency, is not seen in Homotherium. Moreover, the bones of these young mammoths show the distinctive marks of Homotherium incisors, indicating they could efficiently process most of the meat on a carcass, indicating it was they and not scavengers who dragged the carcasses into the caves. Examination of the bones also indicates that the carcasses of these mammoths were dismembered by the cats before being dragged away, indicating that Homotherium would disarticulate their kill to transport it to a safe area and prevent scavengers from claiming a hard-won meal. Evidence also shows the cats were able to effectively strip flesh from bone in a manner that left noticeable score marks.
caption: A species of mammoth similar to those possibly hunted by Homotherium
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