# saber tooth tigers **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 20, 2013, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saber-tooth-tigers/656190 "2013-04-20T04:32:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![e.fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@e.fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/e.fred)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saber-tooth-tigers/656190/1 "2013-04-20T04:32:15Z")
what happens if they clone them? do you think they could beat up lions and tigers and other tough animals? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saber-tooth-tigers/656190/2 "2013-04-20T05:34:22Z")
What about saber tooth tiger vs. alligator? I’d pay to see that. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saber-tooth-tigers/656190/3 "2013-04-20T05:41:48Z")
[A Liger is pretty much my favorite animal.](http://ligerworld.com/images/liger-vs-saber-toothed-tiger.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saber-tooth-tigers/656190/4 "2013-04-20T05:58:32Z")
1. Sabertooths (Smilodon and related genera) are not closely related to big cats (lion, tiger, etc., genus Panthera). I doubt a reasonably complete gene sequence could be recovered for them. (Note that the “false sabertooths” – Nimravus and allies – are IIRC not even cats, in the sense of members of Felidae, though they converged on catlike traits.) 2. Best evidence suggests that sabertooths were heavier bodied and (relatively) slower than modern big cats, ancestors of which lived alongside them. Though sabertooths have a size and armament advantage, it’s probably inadequate for victory over big cats’ speed and (probably) brains advantage and their passably competitive armament other than the fangs. Both the fossil record and balancing advantages of each in a hypothetical, as here, say they’re about evenly matched. (Sabertooths were not outcompeted by modern cats; they probably went extinct after the massive decline in the megafauna they specialized in hunting near and at the end of the Ice Ages left them with inadequate prey to sustain a viable population.) ---
**Author:** ![e.fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@e.fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/e.fred)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saber-tooth-tigers/656190/5 "2013-04-20T06:05:48Z")
Why is it called a tiger then? Did cavemen kill them off or did they die with the dinosaurs ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saber-tooth-tigers/656190/6 "2013-04-20T07:06:37Z")
Cats on our mind, Dr. Darwin? ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saber-tooth-tigers/656190/7 "2013-04-20T07:08:01Z")
> [@e.fred](#): > > Why is it called a tiger then? By analogy. > [@](#): > > Did cavemen kill them off or did they die with the dinosaurs Smilodons died out very recently (10 000 years ago IIRC). Dinosaurs died out 65 millions years ago. Totally unrelated extinctions. ---
**Author:** ![jeturgeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@jeturgeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeturgeon)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saber-tooth-tigers/656190/8 "2013-04-20T07:11:28Z")
What do you mean by “other tough animals?” Could it kill a lion or tiger? It depends. I believe a saber-toothed cat was smaller than a lion or tiger, but I suppose under the **luckiest** of circumstances, a 'cat could kill a big cat, mono-a-mono. But “other tough animals?” One on one against a hippo, croc, rhino, elephant, hell, even a giraffe, I’m not so sure. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saber-tooth-tigers/656190/9 "2013-04-20T07:50:25Z")
> [@jeturgeon](#): > > What do you mean by “other tough animals?” > > Could it kill a lion or tiger? It depends. I believe a saber-toothed cat was smaller than a lion or tiger, but I suppose under the **luckiest** of circumstances, a 'cat could kill a big cat, mono-a-mono. But “other tough animals?” One on one against a hippo, croc, rhino, elephant, hell, even a giraffe, I’m not so sure. [nitpick] Mano-a-mano. Unless they’re kissing. [/nitpick] ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saber-tooth-tigers/656190/10 "2013-04-20T09:00:45Z")
Saber tooth Lions would beat Saber tooth Tigers most of the time. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saber-tooth-tigers/656190/11 "2013-04-20T09:16:39Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > 1. Sabertooths (Smilodon and related genera) are not closely related to big cats (lion, tiger, etc., genus Panthera). Wait… What?! Really?!?! Excuse me, I’m going to have to spend the next few hours in the fetal position, sobbing for my lost youth and innocence and processing this new world view… ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saber-tooth-tigers/656190/12 "2013-04-20T09:21:09Z")
Other tough animals? I would assume all you’d have to do is train a chihuahua to clamp down on his balls, and that’d take the fight right out of him. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saber-tooth-tigers/656190/13 "2013-04-20T11:13:01Z")
I can tell you one animal who don’t care, who don’t give a shit, about cloned sabertooths!