The Gaping Truth: A New Rationale for the Reconstruction of the Face of Smilodon fatalis

Smilodon fatalis is the best known saber‐toothed cat. It has often been reconstructed by artists and anatomists who presume that this animal closely resembled a modern conical‐toothed felid, with the addition of elongated canine teeth. However, saber‐toothed canines do more than affect the distance to which this animal must gape to clear these teeth to make a bite. Greater gape means that there must be an increased soft tissue mass of lip and mucosa surrounding the oral opening. These tissues would be stretched to their maximum at full gape; however when relaxed, with the mouth closed, or open to less than full gape, these features would still be of greater volume than in conical‐toothed felids. It is likely that the upper lip in Smilodon would show a greater degree of sag than is typical for modern cats. The soft tissues of the nose are not preserved in Smilodon , although past reconstructions assumed that the nasal profile is nearly vertical, as is the case in modern cats. We suggest, instead, that the nasal soft tissues in Smilodon are retracted to a degree commensurate with the retraction of the nasal bones. The lower incisor row of Smilodon is strikingly larger than in comparable‐sized modern Panthera tigris , and would therefore need to be more voluminous to stretch over such teeth It is also likely that the lower lip in Smilodon sagged; perhaps causing this felid to resemble a bloodhound more than a conical‐toothed felid. Grant Funding Source American Association of Anatomists