World’s biggest known saber-toothed cat roamed the Earth 8 million years ago and was the size of a POLAR BEAR

Researchers have discovered a fossilised skull of a sabertooth cat, which they say is the biggest ever found.

The skull measures around 40 centimetres long, which translates to an enormous estimated body mass of over 892 pounds, and body length of 3.1 metres – equivalent to a male polar bear.

While the cat has the distinctive fangs, its gape was much smaller than other cats, which suggests it targeted smaller prey

The researchers, found the fossil, which is roughly 8.3 million years old, in China’s Longjiagou Basin.

Although it was slightly crushed, the researchers were able to identify the cat as a Machairodus horribilis – a menacingly large cat from the Late Miocene.

The huge skull is longer than any other known skull of both contemporary sabercats, but also those of the Ice Age.

Tao Deng, who led the study, said: ‘This sabertooth cat has a shoulder height of 1.3 m and a body length of 2.4 m (3.1 m with its tail).’

For comparison, this is roughly the same size as a male polar bear. 

In their paper, the researchers wrote: ‘It shares some characteristics with derived sabertooth cats, but also is similar to extant pantherines in some cranial characters.’

Like other sabertooth cats, the Machairodus horribilis had long serrated fangs, but its gape was much smaller.

The cat would only be open its mouth about 70 degrees.

This is small compared to the 120 degrees that the Smilodon, an Ice Age sabertooth cat, could achieve.

The researchers suggest that this shows that the Machairodus horribilis may have targeted smaller prey than later cats went for.

The researchers write: ‘Its anatomical features provide new evidence for the diversity of killing bites even within in the largest saber-toothed carnivorans.’

Overall the researchers believe that the findings could offer an additional mechanism for evolution, leading to functional diversity in sabertooth cats.

Source: Daily mail

N.H.Kh