Scientists say a newly examined 16-inch Smilodon populator skull found in southern Uruguay once belonged to an animal that weighed approximately 960 pounds.
Aldo ManzuettiA recently examined skull of Smilodon populator measured an impressive 16 inches, making it the largest S. populator specimen to date.
The first fossils of S. populator were found in a Brazilian cave in 1842. These predators existed during the Pleistocene era, when the South American continent was full of other large predators, such as lions, jaguars, and Arctotherium, the largest bear known to science. Another, smaller species of Smilodon also lived on the continent.
A newly studied specimen of S. populator, recovered from the archives of the National Museum of Natural History in Uruguay, is currently the largest fossil of a big cat ever recorded.
The specimen was found in southern Uruguay by a fossil hunter named Ricardo Praderi, who later donated it to the museum in September 1989. At the time, archaeological excavations in the area had mostly turned up large herbivores, often the size of large trucks.
The discovery of the S. populator skull has changed paleontologists' previous understanding of the food chain in this prehistoric ecosystem.
“We’ve always wondered, ‘What could take on a giant ground sloth?’” said Kevin Seymour, a paleontologist at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto who reviewed the study. “If Smilodon gets that big, it could probably take on these adult giant herbivores.”
While the likelihood that S. populator may have hunted large herbivorous prey is quite high, there are still a few factors to consider.
First, it really depends on how S. populator hunted its prey. If their methods were anything like those of modern big cats, then hunting larger animals might be out of the question, as that would mean they would have to fight them to the ground.
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