Smilodon

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Smilodon (Greek: "Knife-Tooth") is an extinct genus of large machairodontine saber-toothed cats that are understood to have lived between approximately 3 million to 10,000 years ago in North and South America. They are the only known successors to Machairodus. Smilodon means knife tooth, an entirely appropriate name given its enormous fangs. The smilodon species are also known as Saber-Toothed Cats or ''Saber-Toothed Tigers. http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/mammal/carnivora/sabretooth.html].

As many as six species of Smilodon are known to have existed:

Smilodon fatalis, 1.6 million-10,000 years ago
Smilodon gracilis, 2.5 million-500,000 years ago
Smilodon populator, 1 million-10,000 years ago
Smilodon neogaeus, 3 million-500,000 years ago
Smilodon floridus, may be a subspecies of Smilodon fatalis''
Smilodon californicus, may be a subspecies of Smilodon fatalis''.

A fully-grown Smilodon weighed approximately 200 kilograms (450 pounds) and had a short tail, powerful legs and a large head. About the size of a lion, smilodon was extremely powerful. Its jaws could open 120 degrees. Its fangs were about 17 cm (7 inches) long.

Many Smilodon fossils have been unearthed at the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, which is why it is the prehistoric cat researchers know the most about.

Smilodons in pop culture

The smilodon, or the Saber-Toothed Cat, is the power source of Boi aka TigerRanger in the japanese television Super Sentai series, "Kyoryuu Sentai ZyuRanger" as well as Trini Kwan and Aisha Campbell the Yellow Rangers in the american show that was based off of Sentai; "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers".
Although the Zaber Fang from the Zoids franchise is referred to as a "Tiger type", it is actually a Smilodon.
The Saber-Toothed Cat was also the inspiration for the logo of the Nashville Predators hockey team, after a saber tooth of one was found beneath the site of Amsouth Center during an excavation.
Baby Puss was the Saber-Toothed Cat that Fred Flintstone would "put out for the night" during the closing credits of The Flintstones.
Ka-Zar, a Tarzan clone from Marvel Comics, has a pet "saber-tooth tiger" named Zabu, who helped raise Ka-Zar.
There were several smilodons in the animated film Ice Age, most notably Diego, one of the main characters.
Smilodons are mentioned in Gene Wolfe's series of novels The Book of the New Sun set in the far future.
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/mammal/carnivora/sabretooth.html

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