JAX CURIOSITY SHOP:  FIRST COAST FANGS!

(Source of picture:  From the wonderful website Florida Frontier Gazette.  Used with permission.)

FELINE FANGS -- The Jacksonville Jaguars may be big cats, but some early Florida felines had them all beat.  The saber-toothed cats in ancient Florida were the largest & most advanced of any saber-tooths. 

Called a Smilodon floridanus, this hunter grew to the size of modern lions and weighed much more.  Its body proved highly adapted to stalking large, slow-moving animals.  Its canine teeth, for example, could exceed nine inches.   When you view a saber-tooth's skeleton, the canine teeth look so prominent that it seems as if the skull simply served as a holder for them.  

SOME GROUP EFFORTS -- Saber-tooth cats occasionally hunted in groups.  When they assaulted a mammoth, they may have tried to use their teeth to rip through the inch-thick skin of the elephant's underbelly.  As the wounded beast attempted to flee, the pack of cats would have followed, waiting for the prey to topple over from blood loss.   Similar to many other predators, saber-tooths could attack healthy prey, but they preferred to target the sick & weak. 

CRY OF THE WILD -- A saber-tooth's roar could carry for five miles across a savannah.  It warned other cats not to trespass on a pride's territory.  An average pride or group of saber-tooths might contain five adult females, two adolescent females, four cubs, & one adult male.  The adult male spent most of his energy marking & defending the pride's territory.

FACT VS. FLINTSTONES -- Don't listen to the Flintstones when they say "saber-toothed tigers."  These frightening felines were not closely related to modern-day tigers.  To impress someone, use the correct term, "saber-toothed cats."

FIRST JAGUARS ON THE FIRST COAST -- The Jacksonville Jaguars are first in the hearts of their fans, but they actually weren't the first on the First Coast:  Extra-big jaguars used to inhabit ancient Florida. In fact, there's evidence that Jaguars roamed Florida around the time that the Spanish explorers first set foot on it.  By the way, a common name for the mighty cat was "tigre" or “tiger.”