Sabertooth Tiger

The Sabertooth Tiger (more correctly known as sabertooth cat) is a fossil that can be donated to the museum in, , , and. The sabertooth was named after its large front canine teeth that were used to stab and/or hold down prey. Found in the Americas, the sabertooth went extinct roughly 10,000 years ago, during the Quarternary extinction event.

In Wild World
New for Wild World, Blathers, the curator of the museum, will gladly talk about the sabertooth tiger after its fossil has been assembled:

"Hoo! Oh, hoo, how marvelous! I'm getting misty! The sabertooth tiger was an absolutely amazing beast! As its name implies, it was part of the cat family and had two long canine teeth. It could open its jaws incredibly wide, allowing it to tear into thick hides. It went extinct about 40,000 years ago...during a period when humans lived. I understand that humans also fell victim to this fierce hunter. The horror! Ah. Hoo. My apologies. I really should try to be more sensitive, eh wot?"

In City Folk
Again, Blathers will talk about the sabertooth's strength and demise when the fossil have been completed:

"...We're witnesses to glory! The saber-toothed tiger is finished! Hootie WOOTIE! Such an event this is! As their name suggests, these fellows had two bug, swordlike teeth, and they were part of the cat family. They could open their jaws 180 degrees, allowing them to penetrate the thick hides of their prey! Savage! They went extinct 10,000 years ago...likely because there wasn't enough for them to eat! The mammoths they hunted were all eaten by humans instead, eh wot? HOO! I...beg your pardon! I was so enthralled, I... I spouted hot air like a boiling teapot, eh wot?"

The completed sabertooth tiger can be found next to the mammoth in the second fossil room, arranged in a running position, its jaw wide open.

In New Leaf
'"The sabertooth tiger was about the size of a lion and is famous for its two long canine teeth. It would prey mostly on woolly mammoths, but climate change made that difficult. Eventually, the changing climate and competition with humans for food drove these creatures to extinction."

In New Horizons
"Chief actor in my most terrifying nightmares, the Sabertooth Tiger was a mighty predator of long ago. Its most famous feature, obviously, is its razor-sharp, eight-inch-long, t-t-te-tee-te-tee...FANGS! I'm sorry-this is so unprofessional of me. Come on, Blathers! Stiff upper beak, eh wot! While no one has seen a living specimen for some 10,000 years, we must remain ever vigilant!"

In Real Life
Smilodon lived in the Americas during the Pleistocene, 2.5 million to 10,000 years ago. While commonly called the "saber-toothed tiger", it is not closely related to tigers or modern cats. Despite this, modern felines do share a very distant ancestor with Smilodon. Three species are known: S. gracilis (the smallest and likely the first to evolve) and S. fatalis (the most well-known) from North America, and S. populator (the largest and first discovered) from South America. They were more robustly built than modern cats, and their teeth were adapted for precision killing. The diet of the North American species included bison and camels. Their extinction has been linked with the disappearance of Pleistocene megafauna (possibly due to the arrival of modern humans) and the evolution of smaller, more agile herbivores like modern deer.