Freak Felids - A Discussion of History's Largest Felines

[GuateGojira]

Size of the Smilodon - comparative images:

Here are two images that I made some time ago, in order to see the size of the Smilodon (two species) compared with the tiger and the famous Barbourofelis fricki, the largest of its species. I simple don't trust the images of Roman Uchitel, as I have found several inaccuracies on his images and scales. These are reconstructions from the famous Mauricio Anton, and scaled with the published measurements. Check them now:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

Interesting as we can see, the largest Barbourofelis fricki was no larger (and apparently nor heavier) than a large modern tiger, the largest skull was much smaller (c.330 - 340 mm of B. fricki against the 383 - 406 mm for an Amur tiger). On the other hand, we had read several times that the Smilodon fatalis was "about the same size than a lion", but we know that a modern lion is VERY variable, so which was its size? In fact, S. fatalis was very variable like the modern great cats and the largest Smilodon fatalis were as large as the largest lions and tigers on record, and slightly more heavier (c.210 cm in head-body and 280 kg).

Finally, on the Smilodon populator robustness, check this draw from the great Mauricio Anton:

*This image is copyright of its original author

That is not a cat, that is a TANK! Wow, that beast was spectacular in its time! I love this giant. [img]images/smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] Reply