Comment on Thylacosmilus by Eurwentala
It's the muscle attachment sites. Their size and shape can be measured to reconstruct the muscles that were attached to them in life. You can see a comparison of the jaw muscles of a leopard, a saber-toothed cat and a marsupial sabertooth in this article: www.plosone.org/article/info%3…
The jaw muscles of saber-toothed predators are in general small compared to those of, say, modern big cats. Instead, they used their teeth sort of like knives, powered by huge neck muscles. Thylacosmilus takes that to an extreme, though.
The jaw muscles of saber-toothed predators are in general small compared to those of, say, modern big cats. Instead, they used their teeth sort of like knives, powered by huge neck muscles. Thylacosmilus takes that to an extreme, though.