The Story of Saberteeth

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Smilodon was a fearsome Ice Age cat, the size of a modern-day tiger, that had a pair of fangs nearly 18 centimeters long. But it was only the last and largest of the great sabertooths: ridiculously long canines had already been a trend for millions of years by the time Smilodon was prowling around. And you know what? Those giant teeth just might make a comeback.

Correction: At 4:22, we incorrectly use an image of a sand tiger shark in reference to a great white shark. We regret the error.

Produced for PBS Digital Studios.

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[startic]

What about the saber toothed squirrel? Saw it on Ice Age

[enderman_of_dm]

An Elephant's tusks are technically very highly evolved teeth.

And they come from the upper jaw too!

[philipclapper]

"cutting edge" lol, props to the writers!

[mattparker]

You should consider doing a video concerning the various families of mammals that arose after the KT extinction that are extinct. We don't hear much about the strange mammal families that thrived for a time but left no representatives alive today.

[lizjoke]

I am a post-geology student, and I love this series! Trilobites got me hooked, but my all-time favorite fossil is a cephalopod specifically called the nautiloid. Those things are cool :)

[ophylias]

Plot twist: saberteeth were popular cause they just looked cool, broseph~

[kitty]

"What made these teeth so cutting edge?" I've been laughing at that for a good ten minutes.

[samiamrg]

Sabertoothed cats might have had to be somewhat careful with their teeth, but sabertoothed Gorgonopsids, being more lizard-like synapsids, are believed to have been able to repeatedly re-grow teeth like many reptiles do. This allowed them to potentially have been very aggressive with their large teeth, viciously biting and tearing with them and not just choking.

[manospondylus]

Can you do a video on cenozoic South America and its weird fauna, like notungulates, terror birds, terrestrial crocodiles and thylacosmilus?

[Byrvurra]

Every time I watch this channel I feel like I'm being transported to an alien planet, but it's Earth. Blows my mind. What a bunch of weird wonderful creatures have come and gone on this planet.

[jorgesardonyxsassistant]

Can you explain the earliest members of the elephant family (mastodons, mammoths)

[aprilit]

I look forward to each episode. I never heard of smilodon, or eocene, or miocene... Or any epoch really. It's exciting to google terms for the first time. I'm discovering so much description about those alien worlds, and I'm enthralled. BTW, I am an old woman - a nurse aide who dropped out of tech school long ago. So, thanks ❤. (More plants, please. And an episode on symbiotic relationships? Can't hurt to ask 🍀)

[portugueseeagle]

Another interesting topic would be the stem-mammals of the Permian, aka, the Mammal-like reptiles. They are not talked about enoug, in my opinion.

[ao]

I increased my iq by 10% just by going through the comment section

[RamiShreds]

Hank is a true educator. That's all I came here to say.

[dignityrevolution]

I like the photo credit being at the bottom of the white box when its first shown. Nature, history, and space artists don't get enough credit normally.

[RAMENndleby]

That cutting edge joke was worth the price of admission.

[avagreen]

I love the awful but endearing puns in this episode!

[feynstein]

Yay Hank. So this channel is basically SciShow Geohistory. Subbed instantly.

[TheSpearkan]

"evolution will converge yet again on this winning design"

looking at you, wolverines