Researchers have completed a comparison of seven unclassified fossil specimens with previously identified ones.
According to scientists, the recently discovered individual weighed an average of about 400 kg and could kill a three-ton prey.
“We believe that they regularly killedanimals the size of bison,” said study co-author Jonathan Kalede, assistant professor of evolution, ecology and organismal biology at Ohio State University. “This predator is the largest cat that has ever existed.”
John Orcutt, assistant professor of biology at Gonzaga University(USA) found a large specimen of a humerus bone in the collection of the University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History. It was labeled as a "cat specimen". The scientist spent many years trying to figure out what kind of cat it could be. Researchers eventually found specimen after specimen in museums across western North America.
Oregon Sample Unearthedon traditional Cayuse lands. Out of respect for the indigenous peoples of America, the study authors named the new species Machairodus lahayishupup. Machairodus is a genus of large saber-toothed cats that lived in Africa, Eurasia and North America. In the Cayius language, Laháyis Húpup means "ancient wild cat."
The largest of the seven available for analysisThe Machairodus lahayishupup humerus fossil was over 46 cm long and 4 cm in diameter. For comparison, the average modern adult male lion is about 33 cm long.
The new species is an ancient relative of Smilodon.Representatives of the extinct genus of saber-toothed cats lived from 2.5 million to 10 thousand years ago in the Americas. It probably originated from the megantereon. By the way, the well-known name "saber-toothed tiger" is actually incorrect.
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Cayuse - Native American tribein what is now the state of Oregon in the United States. The Cayuse Tribe shares a reservation and government in northeastern Oregon with the Umatilla and Walla Walla Tribes as part of the Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Indians. Reservation. The reservation is located near Pendleton, Oregon, at the foot of the Blue Mountains.