Saber teeth evolved at least five separate times, in animals that were not even close relatives. Why does evolution keep arriving at a weapon that breaks so easily?

This video follows four saber-toothed hunters from very different branches of the family tree. Smilodon, the true cat from the La Brea Tar Pits, pinned its prey with heavy forelimbs and then used a bite about a third as strong as a lion's. Barbourofelis, a "false saber-toothed cat" from ancient Nebraska, carried its sabers against a bony flange on the lower jaw.

Thylacosmilus from South America was closer to marsupials than to any cat, and its ever-growing canines pushed its eye sockets partly to the sides. The oldest of the four, the gorgonopsian Inostrancevia, hunted in the Permian, before the age of the dinosaurs.

Side by side, the four lines show the pattern: sabers are optimal for piercing large prey, but the specialization is hard to reverse and raises the risk of extinction once that prey becomes scarce. Which living predator do you think would evolve sabers first? Tell us in the comments.

Chapters:
0:00 Five origins of the same weapon
1:33 Smilodon: the saber-toothed cat
4:46 Barbourofelis: the false saber-toothed cat
8:05 Thylacosmilus: a sabertooth from the marsupial side
11:51 Inostrancevia: sabers before the dinosaurs
14:22 Why sabers keep coming back
16:04 The price of specialization
17:34 The clouded leopard and sabertooths today

#evolution #sabertoothtiger #sabertooth #smilodon