News Paleontology

Spines of saber-toothed cats tell a tale of the doomed species

Deformities, including evidence of a rare tumor, may have resulted from inbreeding

A skeleton seen on a white background shows a saber-toothed cat with its jaws wide open and its saber teeth hanging like daggers.

Fossils of Smilodon fatalis — similar to the one shown here — show an elevated rate of spinal diseases, including nerve tumors that are normally rare.

Momotarou2012/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

By Jake Buehler

Clues to saber-toothed cats’ demise are emerging from fossils entombed in California’s sticky La Brea Tar Pits.

Fossils of the extinct predators preserved in tar reveal a diversity of spinal maladies.