Smilodon populator (SciiFii)

The South American saber-toothed cat (Smilodon populator), commonly known as the giant saber-tooth tiger, is a species of the machairodont subfamily of the felids. It is one of the most famous originally-prehistoric mammals and the best known saber-toothed cat. It originally lived in the Americas during the Pleistocene epoch (2.5 mya – 10,000 years ago) and was once extinct, but has since been brought back from extinction by SciiFii and reintroduced to the forests, open woodlands, and grasslands of South America to help boostbiodiversity. Despite being commonly known as the saber-toothed tiger, it is not closely related to the tiger or other native modern big cats. Overall, the South American saber-toothed cat is more robustly built than any other big cat, with particularly well-developed forelimbs and exceptionally long upper canine teeth. Its jaw has a bigger gape than that of native modern cats, and its upper canines are slender and fragile, being adapted for precision killing. It has a weight of 220 to 436 kg (485 to 961 lb) in weight and 120 cm (47 in) in height, making it the largest of the saber-toothed cats. The coat pattern of South American saber-toothed cats is blonde-brown with small darker brown spots to provide camouflage in the dry grasses and bushes. The South American saber-toothed cat primarily hunts large herbivores such as notoungulates and litopterns. The South American saber-toothed cat usually kills its prey by holding it still with its forelimbs and biting its windpipe. Unlike the North American saber-toothed cat, which is a solitary hunter, the South American saber-toothed cat has a social lifestyle much like lions, being an ambush hunter that waits in prides/packs for unsuspecting prey to come close, using bushes and shrubs to provide cover for ambushing prey. The conservation status of the South American saber-toothed cat is Near Threatened due to some habitat loss and minor poaching, however, the conservationists are trying to save this species from going extinct again.
Category:Animals
Category:SciiFii
Category:Mammals
Category:Cenozoic Park