5. Saber-Toothed Cats Were Tigers
The term “saber-toothed tiger” is a misnomer, as these prehistoric predators were not closely related to modern tigers. Saber-toothed cats, such as Smilodon, belonged to the subfamily Machairodontinae within the family Felidae, while tigers are part of the subfamily Pantherinae. This indicates a distinct evolutionary lineage, with saber-toothed cats being more closely related to modern cheetahs than to tigers (amnh.org). Smilodon, for example, lived in the Americas during the Pleistocene epoch and went extinct about 10,000 years ago. These cats were about a foot shorter than modern lions but weighed nearly twice as much. They had particularly well-developed forelimbs and exceptionally long upper canine teeth.
