Saber-Toothed Cats Used Baby Teeth to Stabilize Their Deadly Sabers, New Study Suggests

Evidence suggests that saber-toothed cats retained their baby teeth to stabilize their sabers, a study reveals
The La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles have yielded over 2,000 saber-toothed cat skulls, providing insight into these prehistoric predators. Although most skulls lacked attached sabers, a few displayed a unique trait: the saber’s tooth socket contained two teeth, with the permanent tooth nested within the baby tooth.
Jack Tseng, a paleontologist at the University of California, Berkeley, suggests that this phenomenon wasn’t accidental. Nearly a decade ago, Tseng and colleagues proposed that retaining the baby tooth helped support the emerging permanent saber, reducing the risk of sideways breakage. They estimated that both teeth coexisted for up to 30 months before the baby tooth shed.
In a recent publication in The Anatomical Record, Tseng presents evidence supporting this theory. Computer simulations and physical tests on plastic saber models indicate that without the baby tooth, the saber would have been more prone to lateral breakage during eruption. Tseng describes the baby tooth as a mechanical brace that stabilized the saber, potentially allowing juvenile cats to learn hunting skills without damaging their sabers.
The saber’s unique support system offers insights into the evolution of saber-toothed cats and their hunting techniques. Tseng’s research, based on fossils from the La Brea Tar Pits, suggests that saber-toothed cats like Smilodon fatalis avoided frequent saber breakage despite the sideways forces exerted during biting. By employing beam theory—an engineering principle used in structural analysis—Tseng modeled the sabers’ strength and stiffness, revealing how the baby tooth contributed to stability.
These findings challenge previous assumptions about saber-toothed cats’ hunting capabilities and shed light on their unique dental adaptations. While no other species exhibit double-fanged specimens in the fossil record, evidence suggests similar retention of milk teeth during saber eruption in other saber-toothed animals.

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