Thylacosmilus was a genus of saber-toothed marsupial predators.
They lived in South America, evolved during the Miocene
epoch, perhaps 20 million years ago, and became extinct during the
Pleistocene epoch, perhaps 5 million years ago.
Outwardly, Thylacosmilus had a cat-like body shape,
and it particularly resembled Smilodon
(the "Saber-toothed Tiger")
because of its long saber-like upper canine teeth.
However, it should be remembered that
as a marsupial, Thylacosmilus was not closely related to either cats in general, or
Smilodon in particular - and
any similarities were in fact the result of convergent evolution.
Thylacosmilus saber-teeth were somewhat different from those of
Smilodon, in that in
Thylacosmilus, these teeth kept on growing throughout the animal's life.
One other difference was that Thylacosmilus had bony flanges in its lower
jaw, which would have acted as a scabbard to protect the saber-teeth, when the animal
closed its mouth.
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