>>4934527
stabby stabby jugular carotid

Gee I dunno maybe for BITING things you retarded fucking ape

>>4934527
they look so impractical, how were smilodons even able to use those things without dislodging their lower mandibles?

I can't imagine how these things didn't break off all the time, especially if you ramm them into struggling animals filled with bones. years ago I chipped one of my incisors while being drunk as shit and slipping in the shower, and those are way smaller and more compact

>>4934653
Aiolornis was smarter than either of them so idrc

>>4934527
they use it to dig for clams

>>4934656
I'm not sure, are modern vultures smarter than raptors?

>>4934667
They were teratorns, they hunted like giant caracaras, not scavenged like vultures.

>>4934527
>>4934635
i think it just looks intimidating so thats helpful but id imagine is basically is like having your head be a fork to rip apart stuff

>>4934527
>>4934630
>>4934635
>>4934779
Smilodon had weaker bite than some big dogs. Its skull was too brittle for stronger bites. It used its fangs to stab its prey without even opening the jaws. It would kill you with its strong neck muscles rather than weak jaw muscles.

>>4934893
>It used its fangs to stab its prey without even opening the jaws.
or maybe it used those for digging

>>4934527
Headcrab?

>>4934527
weren't the teeth the result of some kind of weird sexual selection instead of actual benefit for hunting? I mean they could barely fit anything in their mouth because the huge teeth were in the way

>>4935782
>I mean they could barely fit anything in their mouth because the huge teeth were in the way
Not true because the mouth could open really wide

>>4934527
>>4935786
how much of these skulls are even real? can we even be sure of it?

>>4934630
doesn't look like it could bite very well

>>4935797
>how much of these skulls are even real?
all of them
they usually find them in caves or tar pits where the whole skull is preserved

>>4935824
at least for extreme sabre tooths like smilodon, they were built more like gorillas than regular cats and they would wrestle their prey to the ground using their strong front heavy bodies then sink their teeth into the soft parts then pull back with their strong neck muscles. the damage done by this is so grievous that it usually takes one successful attack for the prey to be doomed to bleed out. unlike lions who have to spend 15+ minutes wrestling a pissed off buffalo before strangling it to death.

>>4936309
Math is hard

>>4936309
>most dinosaur "bones" are mere fra-AAAAACCCCKKK!!!!!
NINETY PERCENT

This little fella's right around 35,000 years old and was found in permafrost. I wonder if their coat would get lighter or darker as they aged.

>>4936329
Poor little guy has been sleeping for 35000 years...

>>4936322
...You do know most of that skeleton is filled in by paleontologists right? Did you really think picking that as an example was going to help your case?

>>4936395
Almost all of the bones of that skeleton are real and dug out of the ground.

>>4936309
>most dinosaur "bones" are mere fragments where the paleontologists then fill in the blanks with their imagination
Pareto principle

20% of bones produce 80% of species.
80% of bones belong to 20% of species.

most dinosaur bones come from species that are 100% known from hundreds of individual specimens.

Most species are known from one individual specimen.

You aren't smart enough to understand any of this.

>>4936395
>tfw the skeleton's left toe was missing so the scientists had to fill it using their imagination (and just mirroring its perfectly intact right toe)
dino bros not like this....

>>4936322
dubs confirm

>>4936395
Is the anti-paleo schizo one guy or is there really more than one angry sperg shitting up all these threads

>>4936614
it's just one guy. The board gets an average of around 400 posts per day, one person posting 100-200 times per day can overwhelm the place really easily. And that's not a lot of posts for a single schizo in one day on 4chan.

>>4935782
This.
Those teeth were also not strong enough to hold prey and could break. Females only selected big teeth males; I wonder if that doomed the species.
<insert nerf now pic about natural selection 2 here>

>>4935786
They were cats, not serpents.

>>4934635
>how were smilodons even able to use those things without dislodging their lower mandibles?
they evolved a special jaw joint that allowed the mouth to open much wider
>>4935782
>weren't the teeth the result of some kind of weird sexual selection instead of actual benefit for hunting?
no, the occipital area of their skull evolved downward to allow them to stab with their teeth.

unless you can think of some other reason they'd need to have really strong neck muscles for slamming their heads downward, then they were stabbing things with those teeth.

>>4936616
Why does the idea of new findings or using exhisting knowledge fill in blanks angers this sped so much?

>>4936305
wasnt there a theory they literally just drop out of trees onto other animals

>>4936711
Paleontologists were mean to him once and he hasn't trusted them since

>>4936309
you are a giant retard

How strong were their teeth? Back in the day I head several accounts they they were brittle and only used to bite down on the throats of incapacitated prey. And others recently claiming they used them to slash open preys guts to kill them

>>4937944
it is my learned opinion that it don't matter
they were cumbersome pieces of shit and the animal(s) would've been more successful with half the length

>>4934527
Probably to stab their prey with a powerful neck movment.
With weapons that size, it does really matter where. In the neck, in the rear on the belly, the prey would be seriously injured.
Then it's all about waiting.
That's why they went extinct, I suppose : new felines and wolves were not that patient and would steal their prey.
>>4934636
>how these things didn't break off all the time
picrel is a proof that teeth can be quite resilient.