It turned out how a tiger with strange vision hunted 3 million years ago

The extinct carnivorous marsupial tiger was distinguished not only by its huge fangs, but also by its strange vision - wide

with eyes spaced apart, like those of cows or horses.Carnivore skulls typically have forward-facing eye sockets or orbits. This provides them with stereoscopic (3D) vision. The left and right visual fields overlap and send information to the brain, allowing the “brain to interpret depth and distance,” which gives the effect of three-dimensional vision. Thanks to it, they assess the position of the prey before jumping.

American Museum of Natural History staffHistory and the Argentine Institute of Nivology, Glaciology and Environmental Sciences studied whether the saber-toothed marsupial Thylacosmilus atrox can even see in “3D mode.” The results of the study were published in the journal Communications Biology.

Artistic digital reconstruction of the skull of Thylacosmilus atrox. Image courtesy of Jorge Blanco

Marsupial saber-toothed tiger, or Thylacosmilus atroxis a ferocious extinct mammal from South America. Scientists from Argentina and the United States studied computed tomography (CT) scans of the skulls of three large predators, which weighed approximately 100 kg in life and went extinct about 3 million years ago. After studying the scans, the researchers discovered that the animal compensated for the strange placement of its eyes by turning its eye orbits outward and orienting them vertically. This is what helped the predator achieve a 70-degree overlap of visual fields, like that of cats.

The researchers also explained how the tigerIn general, such a skull structure appeared. It turned out that it was all because of his incredibly long fangs, which constantly grew throughout his life, and the roots, over time, went further and further into the skull. This displacement resulted in the animal's uniquely wide-set eyes as its canines "threatened" the dorsal part of the skull, the scientists concluded.

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Cover image courtesy of Jorge Blanco

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