The now-extinct saber-toothed tiger was so-called for its long fangs, like sabers, sticking out of its mouth. And, apparently, it could disembowel any opponent.
But how practical were such big teeth, given that the big prehistoric cats would have had to open their mouth inconveniently wide (more than 90 degrees) to strike with them? Modern tigers are not capable of this.
A team of researchers led by Narimane Chatar, a doctoral student at the EDDyLab of the University of Liège in Belgium, estimated the biomechanics of saber-toothed tigers by studying their preserved skulls.
Belgian scientists studied the jaws of 17 species, simulating a total of 1,074 bites. It turned out that saber-toothed tigers without any harm to themselves grinned in the most extreme way, putting their "sabers" forward. They opened their jaws as wide as 110 degrees - almost the maximum angle - as they were anatomically adapted to it.
Previously, scientists from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, US, said that saber-toothed cats and lions had no problems with food. According to the researchers, this allows us to say with certainty that saber-toothed predators and lions went extinct not because of a lack of food, but for other reasons, which remain unknown.