The saber-toothed cat belonged to a group of carnivores that are now extinct. Smilodon, the best-known member of this group, was a ferocious hunter.
Where were most of the fossils found?
The best-known Smilodon fossils were discovered in the fossil tar pits at Rancho La Brea in Los Angeles, California. The tar pits were formed by oil seeping up to the ground's surface. They created sticky traps for herbivorous (plant-eating) animals, which attracted carnivores (meat eaters), like Smilodon. Both types of animals were trapped in the tar.

The saber-toothed cat existed in North and South America from about 1.6 million years ago to 8,000 years ago.
Studies of Smilodon skulls indicate that the mouth could be opened very wide. The maximum jaw gape was about 120 degrees compared to the 65-degree jaw gape of a modern-day lion.
Fossil remains show that Smilodon's canine teeth were fragile and easily broken. Numerous fossil fragments of broken teeth have been discovered. In one case the tip of a canine tooth was found lodged in the skull of a wolf.
Fossil remains also indicate that Smilodon was not built for speed. It was powerful, but it had relatively short limbs. To capture its prey, it relied on ambush rather than a long chase.
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'EXTINCT'
A book by Anton Gill, Alex West

99% of all species that have ever existed on earth are now extinct. In Extinct, six of them are brought stunningly back to life using the very latest 3D computer graphics technology combined with years of scientific knowledge. Featuring the dodo, sabre-toothed tiger, great auk, Tasmanian tiger, Irish elk and woolly mammoth, the mysteries behind the disappearance of these amazing creatures are solved.

Extinct follows the story of each animal's remarkable life and death, but beyond that it engages with theories of the interplay between evolution and extinction - stories where disease, success in a small niche, climate change or the arrival of man can all prove disastrous.
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Blue Pike
The blue pike was an endemic fish of the Great Lakes region in the United States and Canada. The fishing industry, increased habitat degradation, introduction of non-native species and pollution caused the population to crash in 1958. The species lingered on until it became extinct in 1970.


Moas, New Zealand's Giant Flightless Bird
There were more than a dozen species of moa, the largest may have weighed more than 200 kilograms & stood 2-3 meters high. The different species of moa probably became extinct, at different times, by the 1800's. Although little is known about this because the archaeological record is limited. It is speculated that cause of Moa extinction was the colonization of New Zealand.

Pleistocene Megafauna - woolly mammoth, and sabertooth tigers
Fifteen thousand years ago giant animals roamed the North American continent. These extremely large animals, known as megafauna, included several species of elephant, such as the well known woolly mammoth, and sabertooth tigers which were lion-sized cats with knife-like teeth. There has been great debate about what caused the extinction of these large mammals.

The Dodo Bird
The Dodo is a lesson in extinction. First sighted around 1600 on Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean, the Dodo was extinct less than eighty years later.

The Heath Hen
A small wild fowl, was abundant in the eastern U.S. By 1870s the only 50 Heath Hens left occupied the tiny island, Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, the population grew from 50 to 2,000. But fire, predatory birds, and disease wiped out most of the remaining species. The last living heath hen, the final survivor of his species, was seen on March 11, 1932. He died that year.

The Tasmanian Tiger Wolf
The Tasmanian tiger-wolf became extinct on the mainland of Australia in 1936.
There are 91 known species of birds on this planet that have gone extinct since 1681. Each one of these birds has died out because of the ever-increasing human population, or because of a specialized way of life. More bird species will almost undoubtedly go extinct in the near future, and there are some species that are probably already gone, like the Eskimo Curlew (Numenius borealis). The birds on this planet that have gone extinct will never be seen again unless they are rediscovered or cloned.

Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius), which once blocked the sun with its flocks of billions, to birds like the Mysterious Starling (Aplonis mavornata), which is known from a single specimen. But all of these species share one thing in common: no one will ever see them again