The Saber-Toothed Cat's True Secret: Its Super-Strong Arms

Saber tooth cats had incredibly strong front limbs to hold down prey while they used their saber teeth to cut them up.

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By Andrew Moseman
Jul 6, 2010 9:15 PMJul 10, 2023 5:13 PM

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Don't be fooled by those sinister fangs: For saber-toothed cats, much of the killing power was concentrated in the front limbs. The long canine teeth that gave the extinct cat its name are an unmistakable feature, protruding from the snarling faces of models in natural history museums everywhere.

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