05/15/08

POCATELLO, Idaho (AP) _ Scientists attending the 2008
International Symposium on Saber-toothed Mammals at Idaho State
University got a first-hand look at how the fearsome fangs of long
extinct saber-toothed cats might have been used.

The scientists yesterday watched as a pair of saber-tooth metal
teeth mounted on a Caterpillar tractor chomped into an elk carcass
to get firsthand results.

Virginia Naples, professor of Biological Sciences at Northern
Illinois University, says scientists are trying to test what
position the cats and prey would have been in.

Some scientists say the cats went for the vulnerable throat
area, while others contend the big teeth were used to disembowel
victims.

The work could help explain why at least five different species
of the saber-toothed mammal evolved independently on different
continents over a 40-million year period, and why all of them
became extinct.
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(Idaho State Journal)

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