Canada's first sabre-toothed cat fossil found in Medicine Hat | CBC News

Smilodon fatalis, commonly known as the 'sabre-toothed tiger' was a huge predator during the last ice age. Scientists have now confirmed it lived in Canada at that time.

"What struck me is they were listed as being Smilodon from Alberta," recalled Reynolds, a PhD student in paleontology at the University of Toronto. "And I knew that Smilodon wasn't really considered to be a Canadian species." Reynolds, who was researching the growth patterns and life histories of extinct cats by looking at their bones, decided to look more carefully at what cat fossils Churcher had found so they could be used in further research.But another, a bone from the ancient cat's right front paw, was identical other Smilodon bones from the same part of the body, and was positively identified as Canada's first Smilodon..

While Smilodon is often referred to colloquially as a "sabre-toothed tiger" — and popularized as such in— Reynolds said that's a misnomer, as sabre-toothed cats are just as closely related to housecats as tigers. While lions, tigers and leopards typically kill their prey with a neat bite to the throat that crushes or blocks their windpipe, Smilodons are thought to have sliced and gored their prey to death by biting into its throat or belly.

But local herds had more than just Smilodon to fear. Among the bones found with it were also the fossil of an American lion and one that appears to be a cave lion, although that one was too fragmentary for researchers to positively identify.

They must have died off due to anthropogenic climate change.

I don't understand this story. Somebody found fossils in a drawer at a museum that were already properly labelled. How is this a new discovery

Imagine the recklessness of mammoths and sabre tooth tigers who warmed the climate to what it is today. Shameful bigots the whole lot!

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