Smilodon

Smilodon
Biological information
Time period :	Pleistocene epoch
Lifestyle :	Carnivore
In the series
Brought back :	2; male and female
Appearances :	Saving the Sabretooth The Bug House Supercroc

Two Smilodon grooming each other in the prehistoric park.

Smilodon are a species of Smilodontini from the Pleistocene period recognized for their large sabre teeth. The genus includes the well-known North American species Smilodon fatalis, found in large numbers in the La Brea tar pits, but those in Prehistoric Park are the largest species, S. populator, from South America.

In Prehistoric Park

Saving the Sabretooth

A Smilodon cub.

When Nigel Marven travels back 1 million years ago to prehistoric South America he encounters a female Smilodon is when he sees a female stalking a Toxodon. The female kills the herbivore and the whole pride feasts upon it. When the pride leaves, a Terror Bird emerges. Before it can start to eat, a male Smilodon attacks, but the bird escapes. Nigel, determined to get the terror bird for the park, steals a piece of meat the terror bird had dropped, the Smilodon roaring at Nigel as he does so.

Nigel later travels to South America 10,000 years ago along with Saba Douglas-Hamilton,an expert on big cats, with him to capture one for the park. The pair set up camera traps, and one picks up on a young male who then knocked over and marked the camera. But earlier Saba found a cub, and they will go to it to see if the mother has returned. They see the cub and mother - but the cub is very weak. In the distance they know there is the injured male, and decide to dart him first before darting the female and cub.

They manage to dart and escape the male. They put him on the truck and head back. But when they come, it's too late. The cub has died, and the mother is in poor condition. They take the prehistoric cats back to the park, and the female is named Sabrina.

The Bug House

The cat eating a Toxodon

Sabrina and the young male Smilodon have fully recovered. Suzanne wants to proceed in getting them to breed, but Sabrina shows a lot of aggression towards the young male. Later in the episode, Suzanne and other crew members construct climbing frames for the Smilodon pair. She believes this technique called "Environment enrichment" will get Sabrina and the young male Smilodon more comfortable with one another. One day later, Suzanne checks up on the Smilodon with their improved enclosures, with great results. Sabrina is much happier with the climbing frames, and is not ignoring the young male. Later in the episode, Suzanne opens the barrier separating the two halves of the enclosure. While Sabrina and the young male do swat at each other a little bit, the two cats do not lash out.

In Supercroc, it is revealed that Sabrina is still reproductively active, as she has given birth to two cubs. Unfortunately however, Sabrina was having difficulty trying to produce milk for them maybe because of not drinking enough water. Thankfully, Suzanne has taken them both in, but in doing so, she destroys Sabrina's bond with them. A few weeks after the Mass Break-Out, the two cubs have been weaned and are now consuming meat.

Behind the Scenes

Sabrina in South America

The name for the female Smilodon was never mentioned in the show but was seen in a now unavailable game.

Errors

• Despite being compared to lions, their closest modern counterpart is, in fact, the clouded leopard.
• It may have had lips covering its teeth, but this is a speculation and not well supported http://markwitton-com.blogspot.com/2016/10/exposed-teeth-in-dinosaurs-sabre-tooths.html.