Talk:Smilodon

Genes and smell

By finding of correlation between relative cribriform plate size and repertoire of functional olfatory receptor genes, it was found that S. fatalis had a somewhat smaller repertoire than modern felids with 600 olfatory receptor genes, compared to 677 of a domestic cat.

This indicates that S. fatalis used slightly less olfaction for its daily activities than modern felids.

https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.0100

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5879636/

LeandroPucha (talk) 18:48, 10 November 2024 (UTC)

Feel free to add this info under paleobiology. FunkMonk (talk) 19:12, 10 November 2024 (UTC)

Thanks. LeandroPucha (talk) 02:07, 11 November 2024 (UTC)

Upper canine bending force

The bending force required to break the upper canine of Smilodon fatalis has been estimated from experiments with coyotes, red foxes, bobcats and racoons, where a force was applied from the rear edge towards the direction of the nose (fowards) and 70 % of total length of the upper canine from its base.

This would represent the direction of penetration of the upper canine into the flesh and the direction of mechanical stress on the upper canine.

In Smilodon "floridanus" the resulting bending force was 7,000 Newtons, in comparison, in tigers and lions the estimated force was 7,440 and 8,243 Newtons, respectively.

The anteroposterior bending force of the upper canine of S. fatalis is comparable to that of more conical-toothed carnivores of similar size.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7998.2006.00194.x

https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1012&context=natrespapers

LeandroPucha (talk) 05:18, 13 December 2024 (UTC)

As above, feel free to add if you can summarise it briefly. Not sure why they use the name floridanus, though... FunkMonk (talk) 05:57, 13 December 2024 (UTC)

Extinction date contradiction?

"Smilodon became extinct by 10,000 years ago" "The latest S. populator specimen from the Jirau Paleontological Site has been dated to 8,189–9,079 years cal. Before Present (BP)" those can't both be accurate can they? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.162.188.140 (talk) 20:28, 19 July 2025 (UTC)

Did Smilodon lack a baculum?

Although apparently all modern felids have it, the baculum or penis bone has not yet been found in Smilodon and other Machairodontines.

In the tar pits of Rancho la Brea, hyoid bones, clavicles and even ear ossicles (Incus) have been found.

Despite the discovery of ~166,000 remains from ~3,000 individuals over the last ~150 years, no bone corresponding to the Smilodon baculum has yet been found.

Possible evidence of a baculum has been ruled out for Smilodon, as this small bone does not have the characteristics of felid bacula.

This has raised the question of whether this absence of evidence can be considered evidence of absence.

https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.25692

LeandroPucha (talk) 18:26, 8 September 2025 (UTC)

Interesting, might warrant a sentence under description. FunkMonk (talk) 00:00, 11 September 2025 (UTC)

Too many images?

I think that there is too much useless picture in the article, can we talk about that ? Amirani1746 (talk) 20:09, 16 June 2026 (UTC)

Yes, but that sounds rather subjective. As long as an image is relevant to the adjacent text and doesn't clutter up the layout, I don't see the problem. FunkMonk (talk) 22:11, 16 June 2026 (UTC)