Comments on: Sabre-toothed cats had weak bites

By: Float like a butterfly, sting like a terror bird | Not Exactly Rocket Science | cYaNk

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 15:29:33 +0000

[...] He has analysed the heads of some of the world’s most charismatic predators, including the sabre-toothed cat, the great white shark, the Megalodon, the Komodo dragon, and the human. It was only a matter of [...]

By: El verdadero secreto del tigre dientes de sable « Blog ARCIBER

El verdadero secreto del tigre dientes de sable « Blog ARCIBER — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 04:02:10 +0000

[...] Investigaciones anteriores demostraron que los felinos habrían tenido mordeduras relativamente débiles, lo cual descarta el tipo de agresivas dentelladas y palizas que los animadores y cineastas pudieron imaginar. Y definir el espesor y la fuerza de estos huesos del brazo refuerza la teoría de que los depredadores dientes de sable atacaban de forma diferente que los felinos modernos. [...]

By: Ciencia Kanija » El verdadero secreto del tigre dientes de sable

Ciencia Kanija » El verdadero secreto del tigre dientes de sable — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 06:32:44 +0000

By: Marica

Marica — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 05:07:10 +0000

Hi,
Very informative article and very well written as well. It’s such a relief to come across an article that is not full of jargon.
I think most writers seem to forget that not everyone understands their jargon and I would say a lot of people ARE interested in learning more about prehistoric animals but are sometimes put off by the style of writing.
Great job in making this article “readable” to everyone.
Cheers,
Marica

By: Miguel O. Silva

Miguel O. Silva — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:56:51 +0000

Great stuff, what I like about the article is that it goes as far as speculating what evolutionary pressures might have selected for large oversized canines and what evolutionary pressures caused its extinction.
So often we’re presented with articles in traditional media that talk about this or that feature of a pre-historic animal without giving us the current best understanding of its evolutionary context.

By: PaoloV

PaoloV — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:12:09 +0000

“It’s jaws were remarkably under-powered for a cat of its large size and bulk, biting with the same amount of force as a jaguar about a third of its size.”
If I remember correctly (which I may not) Jaguars have the highest bite force of the extant big cats. Hardly wussy.
By the way, when talking about bite force do you mean at the canine tip or force produced overall? The narrower cross section of a sabre-shaped canine is likely to reduce the area over which the force is distributed and is important when considering factors penetration. If the force calculation was overall, a canine tip area 1/3rd smaller than that of P. atrox would mean equivalent penetration force.