Saber-toothed cats became inbred–and struggled to move–before they went extinct

Animats

Another predator that went through a genetic choke point. Cheetahs did, too.[1] Cheetahs survived, but they are so similar genetically that they get the same illnesses, and skin grafts between unrelated cheetahs are not rejected. [1] https://academic.oup.com/jhered/article/108/6/671/3836924

chrisco255

I think the study makes a giant presumptive leap to assume inbreeding was the cause of the higher-than-modern-human incidences of spinal tumors. It's irresponsible to assert this to be true instead of one of several possible explanations.

litoE

Wouldn't it make sense to assume that as the size of the population decreases, perhaps for external factors such as climate change, you are going to see more and more inbreeding?

morkalork

No worries, they'll evolve again. Like crab-form, it has happened multiple times: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saber-toothed_predator#Evoluti...

NL807

I was always puzzled how these cats actually fed. These sabre toots seem to get in the way of feeding and chewing.