Well Preserved Saber-Tooth Tiger Remains Found in Argentina

On Wednesday, a team of seven Argentine paleontologists confirmed the discovery of the most complete remains found so far of a South American saber-tooth tiger, the largest recorded feline on the planet.

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The 10,000-year-old bones were found quite complete during construction work on a house in Necochea, in the Buenos Aires province, on January 3.

The paleontologists commented that the skull has fangs of more than 17 centimeters and hypertrophied canines. To its side, the hands and spine of the animal were also found.

"It is possible we are facing one of the most complete saber-tooth tiger remains recorded in this area," said Matias Taglioretti, the curator of the Paleontology collection at the Lorenzo Scaglia Municipal Museum of Natural Sciences.

The tweet reads, "Remains of a saber-tooth tiger found in Necochea."

During the last Ice Age, saber-tooth tigers - whose scientific name is "smilodon populator"- developed large sizes because the prey they fed on were giant animals that weighed more than a ton.

Saber-tooth tigers hunted their prey alone. Their forelimbs were stockier than their hindlimbs, making them unsuited for long runs to chase down prey. For this reason, they stealthily approached their prey to attack them in the neck until they suffocated. With the extinction of large prey, however, this tiger became extinct as well.

Taglioretti considers that the remains could be about 10,000 years old, which would mean that the saber-toothed tiger would have lived with the first settlers of the Argentine pampa.