Reddit reviews Sabertooth (Life of the Past)

I really like Mauricio Anton's Sabertooth.

If you're going for true realism and basing it on a sabre toothed cat, here are a few hints (palaeontologist, recently been brushing up on them).


At the base of the chin there should be flanges on each side (see the sabre toothed marsupial Thylacosmilus, the true sabre toothed cat Megantereon and the nimravid Eusmilus). These most likely evolved in order to protect the teeth whilst the mouth was closed. My supervisor thinks they may also have been brightly coloured and used for sexual selection, but he also thinks Carnotaurus had a frill, which is ridiculously stupid- I won't go into that now though.

The meeting of the trop and bottom jaws at the front between the canines should be a bit lower, and further forward than it is. Sabre-tooths of all forms (true sabre-tooths, nimravids, barbourofelids and thylacosmilids) moved their incisor battery markedly forwards (see Smilodon and Hoplophoneus), presumably to be able to bite meat off of carcasses etc- something modern big cats use their carnassials (side teeth-premolars & molars) for, but the big sabres would have blocked.

The external ears should be slightly lower, but not by much (looking for a good restoration atm).