Specimen:  PPHM collection (cast)

Excavated:  La Brea Tar Pits, CA

Length:  5.75 ft

Shoulder height:  3.25 ft

Weight:  est. 600 lbs

The Smilodon cats were similar in size to the African Lion, and they are not tigers. Fundamental differences between them and lions are evidenced by the skull and teeth, with a relatively small brain for its massive bulk. The mouth was designed to open 90° to clear the 7-inch sabers during plunging action. Whereas a lion or puma has 30 teeth, saber-tooth cats had just 26, lacking a front pre-molar on each side of the upper and lower jaws to make room for the sabers. While regularly classifed as S. fatalis, a 2018 article published by Johns Hopkins University concluded that specimens from the La Brea Tar Pits are a separate species and should maintain the older name S. californicus. The original specimen of this fossil resides at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in Canyon, TX.