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Published online 1 October 2007 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news071001-2
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Sabre-toothed cats were weak in the jaw
Skull model shows a wimpy bite for fearsome cats.
Toothsome, not to mention fearsome, sabre-toothed cats actually had quite a weak bite, according to research that has implications for our understanding of how the animals hunted.
Researchers in Australia used what they say are the most detailed computer models ever developed of the vertebrate skull to determine the bite force of Smilodon fatalis, a cat (commonly but incorrectly called a tiger) that lived in the Americas from 2.
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