The Collaborative International Dictionary
Smilodon \Smi"lo*don\, n. [Gr. ??? a carving knife + ???, ???, tooth.] (Paleon.) An extinct genus of saber-toothed tigers. See Mach?rodus.
Wiktionary
n. Any member of the extinct genus (taxlink Smilodon genus nomul=1), the saber-toothed tigers.
Wikipedia
Smilodon , is an extinct genus of machairodont felid. It is perhaps one of the most famous prehistoric mammals, and the best known saber-toothed cat. Although commonly known as the saber-toothed tiger, it was not closely related to the tiger or other modern cats. Smilodon lived in the Americas during the Pleistocene epoch (2.5 mya–10,000 years ago). The genus was named in 1842, based on fossils from Brazil. Three species are recognized today: S. gracilis, S. fatalis and S. populator. The two latter species were probably descended from S. gracilis, which itself probably evolved from Megantereon. The largest collection of Smilodon fossils has been obtained from the Rancho La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, California.
Overall, Smilodon was more robustly built than any extant cat, with particularly well-developed forelimbs and exceptionally long upper canines. Its jaw had a bigger gape than that of modern cats and its upper canines were slender and fragile, being adapted for precision killing. S. gracilis was the smallest species at in weight. S. fatalis had a weight of and height of . Both of these species are mainly known from North America, but remains from South America have also been attributed to them. S. populator from South America is perhaps the largest known felid at in weight and in height. The coat pattern of Smilodon is unknown, but it has been artistically restored with plain or spotted patterns.
In North America, Smilodon hunted large herbivores such as bison and camels and it remained successful even when encountering new prey species in South America. Smilodon is thought to have killed its prey by holding it still with its forelimbs and biting it, but it is unclear in what manner the bite itself was delivered. Scientists debate whether Smilodon had a social or a solitary lifestyle; analysis of modern predator behavior as well as of Smilodons fossil remains could be construed to lend support to either view. Smilodon probably lived in closed habitats such as forests and bush, which would have provided cover for ambushing prey. Smilodon died out at the same time that most North and South American megafauna disappeared, about 10,000 years ago. Its reliance on large animals has been proposed as the cause of its extinction, along with climate change and competition with other species, but the exact cause is unknown.
Usage examples of "smilodon".
There was a pelt on the floor, the skin of a smilodon from the Cenozoic hunting reserve on Aphrodite Terra.
It was the song a smilodon sings when he has crept close to his prey, the song that frightens even mastodons so much they often charge in the wrong direction and are stabbed from behind.
A living smilodon was bound to the next tree we reached, which was nearly the last we saw, and I was afraid he would frighten the bull.
It was what was called the sabertooth tiger or smilodon, and its fur was tawny and unstriped.
America, as it was the end of the mammoth and the mastodon and smilodon, the saber-toothed cat, and the huge ground sloth, except that at about the time the original bison vanished, a much smaller and better-adapted version developed in Asia and made its own long trek across a new bridge into America.
Most were hardly more than bones, but some lived and made those sounds that, as the people believe, serve to frighten other tigers, atroxes, and smilodons which, if they were not so frightened, would prey upon the cattle.
Lionesses and she-cheetahs, leopards sleek of flank and smilodons long of tooth.
It was possible that they would be able to confirm the assignment of a pair of Smilodons before this interview was concluded.
I was the girl-child Thecla, had told me once that smilodons drink only after they have gorged themselves, and that when they have gorged and drunk they are not dangerous unless molested.
Lions, panthers, tigers, jaguars, pumas, smilodons with their sabre-teeth, and all the sorts of smaller felines as well, from bobcats to jaguarundi to domestic varieties.
I had known then that walls enclosed me, and that others imprisoned the smilodons and atroxes.
That might have been the end of the bison in America, as it was the end of the mammoth and the mastodon and smilodon, the saber-toothed cat, and the huge ground sloth, except that at about the time the original bison vanished, a much smaller and better-adapted version developed in Asia and made its own long trek across a new bridge into America.
To a race that had grown up surrounded by Danchekker's cartoons, the sight of Trilophodon, the four-tusked walking tank, or of the saber-toothed killing machine Smilodon, must have been awesome.