Related Biomes
Scimitar Cat
Scimitar cat, Homotherium serum
Homotherium serum is the lesser known of two species of sabertoothed cats that occupied North America during the late Pleistocene. These animals were scimitar-toothed cats, whereas the other group of sabertooths (Smilidon fatalis) were dirk-toothed cats. Homotherium is best known from Friesenhahn Cave in Bexar Co., TX, where the remains of this cat were found with their prey, hundreds of teeth of young mammoths (Evans and Meade, 1961). Midwestern records are extrememly rare.
Skull cast of a scimitar-toothed cat, Homotherium serum, Friesenhahn Cave, Bexar County, Texas.
Height: Unknown
Weight: 145-230 kg (320-510 lbs); Anyonge 1993
Physical Description:
H. serum had long, slender forelimbs and a relatively long neck suggesting it was a more cursorial predator than the bear-like Smilodon. It had a holarctic distribution, so was cold-adapted to some degree with thick fur. It was approximately the size of the modern African Lion (Panthera leo). Scimitar-toothed cats, like dirk-toothed cats, had enlarged upper canines. These teeth were curved, serrated, and razor-sharp.
H. serum's long limbs suggest that this animal was adapted to living and hunting in open habitats (Wroe et al. 2008). Most North American H. serum occupied tundra or steppe environements.
Scimitar cats were apex carnivores who preyed on large mammals. Their association with hundreds of mammoths at Friesenhahn Cave in Texas, and the remains of numerous mastodons at Gassaway Fissure in Tennessee suggests they may have been relatively specialized predators of proboscideans. The specialized morphology of Homotherium canines also suggests a concentration on large fauna.
Homotherium seems to have combined strength with short bursts of speed and agility. It probably engaged in prolonged pursuit of its prey more often than Smilodon. The scimitar cat was able to see well during the day. The recovery of cubs and adults from caves in Texas and Tennessee suggest that these animals lived in dens, possibly as family groups. An assemblage of multiple scimitar cats (13 cubs + 20 adults) associated with the remains of over 300 juvenile mammoths from Friesenhahn Cave in Texas suggests that these cats selectively preyed on juvenile mammoths. This is further supported by the association of multiple mastodons with two adult and one juvenile scimitar cat at Gassaway Fissure, Cannon County, Tennessee (Rawn-Schatzinger 1992).
Although rarer than Smilodon, scimitar cats had a wider range during the last ice age, and have been recovered from Florida to the Yukon. In 2008, H. serum was recovered from Tyson Spring Cave in Fillmore County, southeastern Minnesota. DNA from this animal was very similar to much earlier H. serum from the Yukon suggesting very minor population changes over large geographic and chronological distances (Widga et al. 2012).
Specimens from Friesenhahn Cave have been dated to the terminal Pleistocene. However, these results are considered spurious since they are on bone carbonate, which is open to contamination during burial (Graham et al. 2013). A scimitar cat from Tyson Spring Cave in southeastern Minnesota was dated to ~27,000 years ago. H. serum in Montana and the Yukon are much earlier (>40,000 BP).
The discovery of H. serum remains in Tyson Spring Cave (Fillmore County, Minnesota) in 2008 was the first record for this species in the Midwest. Subsequent radiocarbon analyses suggested an age of 27,000 years ago, when the glacial front was only 60 km distant from the site. Although teeth were not found with this specimen, the species diagnosis is supported by the morphology of post-cranial remains and ancient DNA analyses (Widga et al. 2012).
Evans, Glen L., and Grayson Eichelberger Meade. 1961. Part I: The friesenhahn Cave, by Glen L. Evans. Part II: The saber-toothed cat, Dinobastis serus, by Grayson E. Meade. Austin: Texas Memorial Museum.
Graham, R. W., Lundelius, E. L., Meissner, L., & Muhlestein, K. (2013). Friesenhahn Cave: Late Pleistocene paleoecology and predator-prey relationships of mammoths with an extinct scimitar cat. Geological Society of America, Field Guide, 30, 15-31.
Naples, Virginia L., Larry D. Martin, and John P. Babiarz. 2011. The other saber-tooths: scimitar-tooth cats of the Western Hemisphere. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Rawn-Schatzinger, Viola. The scimitar cat, Homotherium serum cope: osteology, functional morphology, and predatory behavior. Illinois State Museum, 1992.
Widga, C., Fulton, T. L., Martin, L. D., & Shapiro, B. (2012). Homotherium serum and Cervalces from the Great Lakes Region, USA: geochronology, morphology and ancient DNA. Boreas, 41(4), 546-556.
Related Animals:
