Did this ancient predator roam Midwestern US? Rare sabertooth cat skull suggests yes

The radiocarbon dating technique was used to estimate the cat's time of death. It was calculated that the cat died near the end of the Ice Age, somewhere between 13,605 and 13,460 years ago. 

The study revealed the skull fossil belonged to a subadult male who died at the age of 2-3 years. The cat weighed 550 pounds at the time of death and could have grown to 650 pounds in its adult stage. This implies that the creature was much larger than the average adult male African lion (about 400 pounds).

Back then, the cat lived alongside various other animals. “The cat would have lived alongside other extinct animals like dire wolf, giant short-faced bear, long-nosed peccary, flat-headed peccary, stag-moose, muskox, giant ground sloth, and maybe a few bison and mammoth,” said Hill.

However, it is unknown how the cat died. Although the broken canine indicates severe injuries sustained possibly while attacking prey. This could have been fatal, resulting in its death. The team suspects it slid along the bottom of a river and was buried there for thousands of years.

“We can learn a lot from these types of fossils. They hold clues about the animals' ecology, how they respond to dramatic climate change and the appearance of a new predator and competitor on the landscape, including people,” said Hill. 

The findings are published in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews.

Study abstract:

Outside of Rancho La Brea, southern California, United States, knowledge of the life history, ecology, and extinction of large, late Pleistocene carnivores in North America is frustrated by a scarcity of skeletal material and trustworthy radiocarbon dates. A complete Smilodon fatalis (sabertooth cat) cranium from southwestern Iowa, directly AMS radiocarbon dated to 11,685 ± 40 B.P. (13,605–13,455 cal B.P.), represents an important addition to the inventory of evidence for the taxon in the Midcontinent. Assessment of tooth eruption and wear combined with metric and nonmetric comparisons with coeval crania from Pit 61/67 at Rancho La Brea indicates the specimen belongs to a subadult male 2–3 years of age at death. Craniodental morphology falls within the range of variation in the Pit 61/67 males. Predicted live weight is 251 kg. One C1 has an antemortem bend fracture, and the absence of use-wear on the proximal remnant suggests death ensued within days of the injury.