Learn how fossilized vertebrae from California’s La Brea Tar Pits may link nerve tumors, difficult hunts, and inbreeding as saber-toothed cats neared extinction. A spinal nerve tumor is rare enough ...

The fossilized spines of saber-toothed cats in the La Brea Tar Pits reveal evidence of an unexpectedly high prevalence of rare spinal nerve tumors, suggesting that the species became inbred just ...

Saber-toothed cats may have been limping toward extinction long before they vanished. A new study of more than 3,700 vertebrae from Smilodon fatalis found at Los Angeles' La Brea Tar Pits documents ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world. The Ice Age’s most famous predator, Smilodon, killed with ...

Detail from a 1911 illustration of a saber-toothed cat in the La Brea Tar Pits. Credit must be given to the creator.

Ice Age saber-tooth cats and dire wolves experienced a high incidence of bone disease in their joints, according to new research. Ice Age saber-tooth cats and dire wolves experienced a high incidence ...