Cougar vs Sabertooth Tiger, who will win this battle of the peak of the ancient big cat? They are all huge legendary cats that once ruled the earth. The mountain lion, also known as the North American lion or the cougar lion, is an extinct lion in the feline family and is endemic only to North America. The mountain lion was one of the most powerful, mighty and handsome predators of the Pleistocene period. On the other hand, the saber-toothed tiger, also known as the short-bladed tiger, lived in the late Miocene-early Pleistocene and was also a powerful, courageous and beautiful cat. Due to their huge canine teeth, these big cats are easily recognizable. But here I chose the South American saber-toothed tiger for comparison, because the South American saber-toothed tiger is the largest species of all the saber-toothed tigers.
So let's take a look at who will win if they face a fight.
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It is estimated that the mountain lion is about 2.5 meters long from head to tail, 1.2 meters high on the shoulders, and weighs up to 420 kilograms. But a 2012 fossil study estimated that the maximum weight could reach 520 kilograms. The saber-toothed tiger was about 2.4 meters from head to tail, about 1.2 meters high on the shoulders, and weighed between 220-436 kg, but the maximum weight recorded was as high as 500 kg.
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Mountain lions lived during the Ice Age, and they adapt well to cold environments and a variety of habitats throughout North America. Paleontologists believe that mountain lions flourished about 120,000-10,000 years ago and lived until the end of the Pleistocene. In contrast, saber-toothed tigers may live in more enclosed habitats, such as deep forests and bushes in South America, providing cover for ambush prey. Saber-toothed tigers went extinct at the same time as most north and South American megafauna, about ten thousand years ago, throughout the Pleistocene period, and did not become extinct until the early Holocene.
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The average speed of mountain lions is about 48km/h. On the other hand, the saber-toothed tiger is not a very fast runner and cannot adapt to chasing fast-running prey such as deer, and it is estimated that its speed is only 43 km/h per hour.
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Mountain lions have a bite force of about 1200 pounds of force. After research, scientists found that the saber-toothed tiger's teeth are large, but not so strong, and it is always broken frequently, which means that the saber-toothed tiger's bite force is very weak, only about 270-330 pounds of force.
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The paws of both big cats are almost 7.5-10 cm long, but the saber-toothed tiger's canine teeth are large and long, reaching about 30 cm long, while the cougar's canine teeth are only 13 cm long.
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According to the scientists' research, the bones of mountain lions show that they are more agile, stronger and faster than saber-toothed tigers.
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Mountain lions may prey on North American deer, horses, camels, tapirs, bison and mammoths. They have no natural predators, but their main food competitors are small saber-toothed tigers, dire wolves, and giant short-faced bears. Instead, saber-toothed tigers prey on slower animals such as ground sloths and mammoths, which often compete with moa birds that are 3 meters tall in South America.
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Now let's see who wins this legendary battle. There is no doubt that saber-toothed tigers are formidable opponents of mountain lions .... They are about the same size and strength. So in my opinion, the win or loss of this battle depends entirely on the position and the situation, after all, they all belong to the kings of different positions. If this battle takes place in an icy North American habitat, it is absolutely supportive of mountain lions, because saber-toothed tigers do not have the habit of living in icy habitats, which needs to be adjusted. Although the saber-toothed tiger has very large canine teeth, these huge teeth do not give it an absolute advantage, because these teeth are easily broken in battle. While it is possible to kill a mountain lion, it takes a lot of courage and luck.
So what if this battle takes place deep in the forests of South America? That would definitely be good for the saber-toothed tiger. Because the saber-toothed tiger is the undisputed king of the deep forests of South America, it is a very good ambush predator. So, if the saber-toothed tiger can jump on the mountain lion, then it can grab the mountain lion's throat and insert its saber teeth into the mountain lion's blood vessels, and in that case the mountain lion has no chance of surviving.
However, if the habitat of the mountain lion and saber-toothed tiger is taken away and we take them to a new habitat, it will be a very bloody battle, and perhaps no one will win in the end, and the local victory will only depend on the strength of the individual. So, the director thinks the battle could be drawn.
Do you agree with me? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section. I'm the Director of the Exploration Bureau, if you like my article, don't forget to click the Follow button, like the favorite and retweet at the same time, thank you!