In the Pleistocene era, the big cat Smilodon they roamed parts of the Americas, using blade-like teeth and ambushing to take down the megafauna.

A version of this story appears in the December 2020 issue of
National Geographic magazine.

In the South American savannah of the Pleistocene era, the big cat with saber teeth Smilodon survivor ambushed the megafauna of the residents. A fossilized skull from Uruguay shows that some Smilodon they were giants. It is unclear whether this cat hunted alone or in packs, but studies reveal that its bite, bone structure and limb strength made it a formidable predator.

(Not all saber-toothed animals were predators, the fossils reveal.)