Why Saber-Toothed Cats Went Extinct: The Painful End of an Icon
Saber-toothed cats suffered from high rates of congenital spinal deformities and rare nerve tumors near the end of the last ice age, pointing to sustained inbreeding as populations shrank, according to a study published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science. Researchers analyzed more than 3,700 vertebrae from Smilodon fatalis specimens recovered from Los Angeles’ La Brea … Read more