Creature of the Week #28: Barbourofelis

Adam Khor

Barbourofelis is often mistaken for a sabertoothed cat; in reality, it belonged to a separate family, the Barbourofelidae, which were closely related to felids but had some major differences.
Along with the Nimravids, Barbourofelids are often called "false sabretooths".

Barbourofelis is among the largest and most fearsome of these; it was the size of a lion but had huge blade-like fangs. Its lower jaw was modified like that of Thylacosmilus to better protect the fangs from breaking and preventing the animal from hurting itself.
Barbourofelis' fangs were up to 23 cms long, being longer than those of most true sabertoothed cats!

Unlike cats, however, Barbourofelis was not an agile creature; its body was massive and similar to that of a bear. It was also a plantigrade, meaning it was likely slower than true sabertooths.
It is possible that Barbourofelis could stand on its hind legs like a bear; its eyes were located on the sides of the head allowing for scanning of its surroundings, but this also limited its binocular vision.



It is believed that Barbourofelis was an ambush hunter; it would hide and wait for large, thick-skinned prey to pass by. Poorly adapted to hunting smaller prey, it was completely dependant on larger game. It would use its massive weight and strength to wrestle prey to the ground and hold them firmly while delivering the fatal bite.

Barbourofelis lived in North America during the Miocene, 13-5 million years ago.

Allosaur

Ambush hunter that had poor binocular vision. How did that work?

Adam Khor

Allosaur wrote: »

Ambush hunter that had poor binocular vision. How did that work?

Maybe it relied more on other senses?

Galvasean

Is this the new creature of the week?
If so I'll sticky the thread.

Adam Khor

Galvasean wrote: »

Is this the new creature of the week?
If so I'll sticky the thread.

Yes it is.

Rubecula

#29a and 29b.

Well it is my turn with the letter C, and I had two in mind. I will break with tradition and do both as they are similar in a very important way.

Did any of you read that post where I called myself a living fossil. Here are the genuine articles:

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/vertebrates/coelacanth/CoelArnaz66.jpg

And the wonderful and often ignored for being familiar Sea Lillies, otherwise known as Crinoids.

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/echinodermata/crinoidea.html

Living fossils indeed.

Kess73

Adam Khor wrote: »

Maybe it relied more on other senses?

I could buy that for a water based predator to some degree, but a terrestrial ambush predator without or with very poor binocular vision? The prey species had to have been pretty damn slow.

Adam Khor

Kess73 wrote: »

I could buy that for a water based predator to some degree, but a terrestrial ambush predator without or with very poor binocular vision? The prey species had to have been pretty damn slow.

Considering the rest of Barbourofelis anatomy, it is likely that its prey was indeed pretty damn slow; large, thick skinned animals that relied on size and brute force rather than speed to deter most predators.

Rubecula

I posted creature of the week 29 (a and b) in here too should I have opened a new thread?

I will do a repeat in a new thread, if it is wrong I am sure the mods will let me know.

3ndahalfof6

Rubecula wrote: »

I posted creature of the week 29 (a and b) in here too should I have opened a new thread?

I will do a repeat in a new thread, if it is wrong I am sure the mods will let me know.

give us the link to the thread

Rubecula

3ndahalfof6 wrote: »

give us the link to the thread

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056436883

I think that should do it.