A cat named “same beast” that wasn’t at all like other cats, spread across the globe using pursuit and bleed tactics like canids, and it dominated the biggest biome as an apex predator in the last great epoch. Very underrated and underrepresented animal.
Congrats to Homotherium for joining the Ice age baby mummies club! Also it kind of shows these guys probably lived till the end of the Plistocene at least.
The name Homotherium makes sense when you consider what it must of have been like for earlier paleontologist who found this strange big cat all over the world. Every conference they go to they start describing it and scientists from other parts of the world are like “what! I found the same beast here as well!”
@@bricksloth6920 Eocene Horses are a huge fave of mine too. I don't love modern horses, so it's always surprised me how charmed I am by Eocene horses. & it's not their size in that era, bc I love me some Giant Sloth family too.
Homotherium has been my favorite extinct animal for a long time! The very idea of a cat being a social pursuit predator that specialized in hunting is just so, so fascinating! This was a great video about a truly amazing animal!
Great stuff! I'd like t point out that Homotherium is a genus comprised of 4 recognized species, I would argue that the genus Panthera historically achieved a similar distribution. It's absolutely fascinating to think that any extinct genus could be as diverse as the pantherine cats and we will likely never be sure about it.
RIGHT! Not to mention how many civilizations or land masses that have been submerged into the ocean over the centuries. Truly makes you wonder how much rich history of the world is just lost to time
True, but the genus Panthera is morphologically more diverse than Homotherium was. No "type" of Panthera, so to speak, ever achieved Homotherium's distribution. Lions were pretty close though.
@@pumaconcolor2855 I'd count them as lions. They are now recognised mostly as distinct species, but still the spelaea-lions were the sister group to modern lions, meaning the lion is more closely related to them than to any other cat. Panthera spelaea and P. atrox also seem to have been broadly similar ecologically, although there is evidence to suggest that P. atrox at least was solitary, and P. spelaea also seems to have been less social than P. leo is. As for the distribution, whether P. atrox entered South America is debated but perhaps likely (Panthera atrox/onca mesembrina), but as far as we know, no lion ever reached the Sunda islands, which Homotherium, however, did. I guess we might call it a draw here.
Another great video. You do an amazing job of demonstrating just how different Homotherium and Smilodon were which really helps one appreciate the diversity of the ecosystems at that time. I'll never look at these two cats the same again.
Knowing their similarities in ecology with wolves, and that they had a similar expansion to humans, I wonder if humans would have domesticated them if they had survived extinction.
@@josephvisnovsky1462cat domestication has been a struggle due to their individualism. That said, if there were a feline exhibiting wolf-like social traits, it's both logical and entertaining to consider a mutualistic relationship w them and what that would've looked like.
Homotherium: the cat that wanted to be a dog. There's a movie to be made, there. Maybe our sad misfit protagonist teams up with a fox: the dog that wanted to be a cat. And just for fun, we throw in a Megatherium: the sloth that wanted to be the Hulk.
You're doing nothing short of a service by highlighting these lessor known, yet still amazingly fascinating creatures lost to extinction. I live in hope we will see a documentary on the Great American Interchange one day.
Thank you for this. It would have been terrifying to be actually chased by a saber-tooth cat, not that being pounced on by Smilodon would have been great, but running from something that was going to catch you no matter what would been pretty demoralizing. In any case, as a dedicated cat lover, I really appreciate the lesson on a cat that deserves much more recognition that it gets.
I would absolutely LOVE to see a video on Panthera Onca Augusta, the jaguar is one of the most unique big cats and I feel like it's also a very under-appreciated animal.
6:32 I thought Homotherium was digitigrade. Would make since if it was a pursuit predator built like a spotted hyena. There’s also an article by Mauricio Anton published in 2021 on ResearchGate with a figure discussing whether Homotherium was digitigrade or plantigrade. It states that based on foot morphology it was most likely digitigrade. But I may have just missed a more recent study that says otherwise 🤷🏾♂️. Either way, it’s just nice to see more in-depth Homotherium content 🙌🏾. A very under appreciated animal indeed, many thanks good sir!
But he also says saber cats teeth were exposed which too me seems highly unlikely due to the world they lived in (ice age) & the fact they are super dependent on their teeth. (At least last time I heard him speak on them). Both bears & humans are endurance/pursuit predators that are plantigrade. However I see your point, so maybe they had the ability to do both. Scimitar cats having a bear-like pelvis makes me believe they would have been able to stand on their hind feet for sometime, which is beneficial when scanning for prey during the day, similar to how cheetahs use termite mounds & fallen trees as look out points.
I'm not good at leaving comments, but thank you. Your videos are a great bridge between "Hey, I have some interest" and "Let's wade into Paleonlotogy wholesale!" Thanks.
Despite the fact that this video covers an extinct species there's a feeling of respect to this video. Homotherium were absolutely amazing creatures and while they may be gone now that is just the way of things, nothing lasts forever so what matters most is the story you told along the way and this genus had a LOT to say. Rather than looking down at these beasts for dying out their loss is studied with fair conclusions, a sense of respect that even spills over to our ancestors who were at the wrong place at the wrong time to take all of the blame of the full disaster rather than the last straw in a bad situation, and a recognition of the creatures' successes. Having recently come across some videos of old time-y paleo art that also covered how people initially viewed extinction, as "proof of a species's failure", the difference feels like whiplash.
Thanks for covering Homotherium, its my favourite prehistoric animal for pretty much all the reasons you mentioned! 😁 Its a historical mystery too: first named by palentologist Emilio Fabrini in 1890, he gave no explanation behind its name and died before anyone could ask him. So we have no real idea why it was dubbed 'same beast' of all things. Its weird, non-descriptive name is probably one of the reasons its not more popular in media, honestly. 🤷♂️
Not exactly related to homotherium, but as someone who works with big cats, they truly are amazing creatures. Like you can totaly see how they are apex predators in their fields. And fun fact about tigers and lions specifically; we try to keep our animals as wild as we can and tigers are just straight up mean and super aggressive and lions are the complete opposite. Lions are like big, stinky, friendly house cats. They're both cats but one acts like an apex predator of the jungle, constantly honing it's skills and the other is... well... like a big house cat that can be stolen if bribed with treats.
I guess it's comforting for people today to think that our nomadic ancestors were just as selfish, destructive, and wilfully ignorant as we are today. Our ancestors actually have an excuse of ignorance, we don't have that precious excuse.
We could have been a contributor but generally even in modern cases we only cause extinctions when the species is already vulnerable and/or through targeted extermination campaigns. The truth is we definitely didn't cause the decline, but we may have been the ones who killed the last remaining individuals without realizing they were the last ones. Imagine growing up seeing such animals, but one day you see the last one without realizing that none of your decedents would ever see another. Its probably happened many times, the animals that are in strongest conflict with us are those that are desperate and living in degraded habitats which would have certainly been the case for the last few of these ice age animals so the last thousand or so that were brought into conflict due to the desperate circumstances they find themselves were sometimes taken out by us but that is not the fault of those people. If a struggling population of smilodon was desperate enough to have to hunt small prey we would be a prime target, for our size we are somewhat slow but in the end those last surviving saber tooth cats were already on their way out if they had to go for prey they aren't adapted for. It is like how the Tasmanian tiger was already restricted to only a small part of its once massive native range, had it still ranged throughout Australia it would most likely still be around today.
@Exquailibur We're pretty terrible as a food source. It is much more likely that the last individuals moved closer to humans in order to access our refuse and domesticated animals. By the end of the last Ice Age, most healthy adult humans would have been nearly impossible to kill due to our weapons and social organization.
Depends on how you view it. If we take climatic changes and associated faunal population drops, and subsequent retreats into refugia during the Pleistocene as the constant. And humans the additional variable which then pushed many species into extinction with additional pressures from our not so insignificant influences. Any reasonable scientist would say that additional variable was a causative factor.
8:30 Eurasian/North American cold Sarengedi 11:45 Homatherium may have been a group hunter. 16:40 FOURHUNDRED baby mammoth individuals in a Homatherium cave 18:20 Insane Ice Age South American Mammalian carnivore compition.
An absolutely fantastic video on an incredible and far too unknown creature! Easily and by far the best video on Homotherium that I have found on RUclips! Please keep producing such awesome contacts!
Here's something I realized recently, because of that paper that came out recently showing evidence that theropod dinosaurs had some kind of lips covering their teeth. Because mammals only ever have two sets of teeth, no matter how long the teeth of a member of the Machairodontinae got, they had to be covered by lips. If enamel isn't kept moist, it turns brittle and chunks of it will break off the tooth. So the only way uncovered teeth can work is when the species is able to constantly replace the teeth, like crocs do. All mammals as far as I know only get 2 sets of teeth. So logically, unless they evolved someone other than enamel to coat their teeth with, they had to have their teeth covered. Which means, we should really be drawing them with massive chins, rather than bare teeth.
Indeed, Homotherium, and other machairodont cats with similar canines most likely had lips covering them. Now with things like Smilodon and Megantereon, who’s fangs are quite long, it’s a little bit more mysterious. There was that hypothesis that Smilodon had jowls like a bulldog, but that’s been thrown out soon after it’s conception.
@@beastmaster0934 Whatever they had, they had to have something to keep their sabres moist. Imagine if they had super slimy and thick saliva and that's what did it. Like a Saint Bernard, but even worse.
Slightly unrelated, but some mammals have continually replacing teeth like elephants. Of course they are herbivores and very different to cats, but it does show that not all mammals have only two sets of teeth.
Maybe they were able to keep the enamel moist by submerging the teeth into fresh quarry. OR... they would take the teeth out at night and keep them in a jar of water. OR... they chewed Dentine gum. That would explain the trace bits of spearmint found in their bone marrow. OR... they spent their spare time lounging about the nearest watering hole.
This is the most underrated beast that we ever encountered or even dreamed of, thank you for this great docu. It is indeed difficult to imagine they were solitary predators, as I used to believe (rationale below) if they hunted elephants and mammoths. An unanswered question that seems then important is: were they decent climbers? Because I used to think they were, as most felines are, but with the kind of hunting strategy and gait that you describe, they were probably even more ground-bound than cheetas. This brings me to the rationale I mentioned before: I observe a strong association between hominin evolution and felines in Africa: in the days of Homotherium, our ancient kin of bipedal but still somewhat arboreal and small-brained precursors (Australopithecus, Paranthropus and precursors like fascinating Sahelanthropus) managed to survive and even thrive pretty well but went all extinct approx. when lions (Panthera leo) arrived to Africa. This to me needs to be acknowledged as almost certainly the reason for the "punctual evolution" to Homo genus (larger brains, more strict bipedalism and crucially the first technology that we can truly call that way such as control of fire or stone tools) and needs analysis. I used to think that the reason Australopithecines and such survived was that Homotherium was solitary and thus less of a threat to our social kin (the other great predator in Africa were hyenas but not climbers, so trees provided safety in the night) but now I realize that that this is almost certainly not true but my misconception, the reason our kin was relatively safe was that Homotherium, like hyenas, was surely not a great climber... and anyhow it had other culinary interests of greater size than our pre-human ancestors. When lions arrived (varies somewhat on author but at least 2Ma BP, when fossils already exist in East Africa), then we (hominids) had to face a new threat: social climber predators against which tree nesting provided no safety whatsoever anymore (more so as they hunt at night most of the time and were surely accompanied by their leopard relatives). This was necessarily a new and major game changer in Africa, very especially for our slow-moving kin, whose defenses were sociality and retained tree-climbing abilities only. The resulting mega-culling produced us (Homo sp.) as only survivors, who won the evolutionary race, not by being better at exploiting this or that resource... but better at defending from lions, especially at night, when controlled fire would have been a doubly useful weapon. Evolution typically works by pressure, negative selection of the less fit... after a new challenge appears, and our evolution was not different. It's weird that nobody seems to be asking the question of what caused the positive selection of us among the once thriving bipedal hominids who clearly had a good life in the African savanna in spite of Homotherium and hyenas. It's a question that must be asked and one that IMO seems to have only one answer: social climber big cat invasion, namely lions.
Interesting. Not that I have much to add. But I watch a lot of stuff. I remember hearing our brains were able to develop greater and larger because we started to cook our food. We spent much less energy chewing and digesting. We got more calories from the cooked food. Basically, cooking our food gave us bigger brains and sped evolution. Something to think about and maybe investigate for yourself. But another point for Fire somehow still not getting the credit it deserves! 🔥
@@apexnext - I'm not so sure about the cooking hypothesis: it may have helped (is a pre-digestion) but I don't think it's the main cause. However eating much more meat/fish than our ape cousins is probably helped a lot. In this sense cooking may have helped because we don't have the mouths of a carnivore but we do have relatively small guts almost like carnivores, as if a meat-based diet was part of us since the beginning (sorry, vegans, you got it all wrong). In this sense it's probably not meat strictly (protein) as it is fat (energy) and that links with the theories that make sometimes our Australopithecines ancestors and even early Homo sp. as supposed consumers of fat-rich marrow (however this would have us competing with hyenas, who also exploit the bones). An old theory in this regard suggests that our sweaty, hairless bodies (plus the protective "hat" of thinly curled hair) would have allowed our ancestors to venture in search of carcasses (incl. their marrow-rich bones) at noon, when predators, less well prepared for the midday heat in the savanna, are dozing under the shadow of the acacias.
@@apexnext - I did anthropo-paleo-blogging for a decade or so and obviously learning before that. So it's stuff that I have thought about or read about now and then... but not that much anyhow. I recall that I got to the lions's hypothesis when I was sharing apartmente with another anthropo-paleo blogger many years ago and he was like "nah, I don't see it". But I do see it: there must be a reason all other clades in the Australopithecine branch went extinct almost at the same time... but not those who developed the basics of technology, notably fire. To me its lions but of course it could be something else like "we ate all the australopithecines" or, simpler: "we displaced them". However many paranthropus were basically gorilla style grass-eaters, we don't compete with that niche. But lions would have eaten them in ways that hyenas could not. The big issue was Homotherium, how was it different from lions. I thought it was because they were not social but apparently the reason was that they were not climbers instead. In any case it's not only about thinking "a lot" but about "thinking outside the box" primarily.
@LuisAldamiz were we really just food for so many cats? I knew they were a problem. Our instincts are still so engrained and heightened for a phantom in the dark lurking and stalking us, even in our modern times we can't turn it off.
A theory I heard of why Homotherium disappeared from the old world was competition with advanced hominids, with humans replacing them as diurnal pursuit predators of large herbivores. Think about it, where did Homotherium first disappear? Africa. Where did hominids first show up? Africa. And the latest place Homotherium survived the Americas was one of the last places hominids colonized. It's an interesting theory as the timeline & fossil record for it match up quite well.
Hi, Mr PA, You mentioned, [12:45], that prey isolation by the family leads to the final severing the major arteries in the neck. However, with track and kill hunters, whether quad- or bi-pedal, very often the method of bringing down prey is to inflict various [smaller or larger, many or few] lacerations so that the animal is bleeding consistently, whilst the hunters track the wounded beast, almost casually, until the prey is tiring, and slowing, and weakening, due to blood-loss and thirst. It may be some days till the animal is caught-up, but due to weakness the final kill is much more subdued and less violent ie. less dramatic. This also pairs well with evidence of less broken teeth and injuries sustained by our [scimetar formed and serrated edged] toothy hunter.
I very much enjoy all your content. I love the deep dive videos and the history of the earth series. Cenozoic animals are some of my favorites and they are highly under-represented in Paleo media so I really enjoyed this one. Thanks for the work you put into making these ❤
Great video on a truly fascinating predator! It is astounding that they are not more widely acknowledged, considering their long, successful run over such a huge range! Thank you for all the hard work creating your interesting, informative and entertaining videos. Have fun on your fossil hunt. All work and no play....
Besides dinosaurs, prehistoric mammals are the second thing I like. Mainly because I work in a place here in Hungary that is rich in fossils from the miocene epoch/ period.
I'm including these in a novel I'm writing. Not extinct, of course. I was originally thinking of smilodon (of course) but the social behavior of homotherium works better in the plot. That's right; intelligent, social apex predators that understand humans, big enough to ride, and feared by the ancients as god-killers. The plot practically writes itself.
The phenomenon you described with Homotherium and Smilodon coexisting is called “niche partitioning,” wherein similar organisms are able to occupy the same habitat by adopting different habits or exploiting different resources from one another, reducing direct competition and preventing them from crowding each other out.
Another fantastic video! Thanks for the information, you did a wonderful job as always. I would love to hear more about ancient cats from you. And scorpions, too.
Another Paleo Analysis great. I can tell this is one I'm going to rewatch more than once. Pleistocene fauna is too overlooked by both myself and others.
Great, now time for the Prehistoric Bears, maybe some attention to the underappreciated there too, though always up for a short-faced bear episode or 3. Prehistoric Ursus Americanus Amplidens, Ursus Maritiumus Tyranicus, Steppes Brown Bear, bring it!
as a huge Smilodon fan, I'd say that Smilodon gets all that recognition because it was huge and it had those HUGE teeth. It gets all that attention for the same reason that T. rex gets all that attention: sheer awesome factor in the eyes of the general public. Homotherium is fascinating, but it's virtues are on the more subtle side if you put it side-by-side with Smilodon. A huge cat with knives for teeth that is built like a bear and probably specialized on megafauna? That's pretty badass, and you don't need to have an appreciation for the subtler things that make animals cool to enjoy that. Same reason why people love lions and tigers and don't even know about stuff like black-footed cats or fishing cats. The big charismatic things get all the attention. Heck, this can even boil further, mammal appreciation vs insect dismissal. Bringing it back, I love Smilodon. It's so cool. I also like the other machairodonts, they're very cool. But Smilodon really does capture my imagination and doesn't let go lol.
Honestly I just watched this video and dam it was not only knowledgeable but it was banger from the edits to the breakdown just got yourself a subscription 😂
Great video About homotherium size it differ depending on subspecies Homotherium serum were as big as modern lion and the largest homotherium crenatidens close to 300 kg Well the smallest homotherium venezuelansis almost weight as less as 100 kg.
Homotherium serum had non-retractable claws like a cheetah. In asking Dr. Jennifer Leonard a question via email about her work in Alaska with Beringian wolves, the mentioned that Homotherium, the American Lion, and the Short Faced Bear all inhabited the same environment but sequentially. It was if three species, A, B, and C were all there but only two at any given time. So A replaced B and B replaced C and C replaced A. But nobody knows which species replaced which.
What is amazing about homotherium in beringia was it was supposedly more solitary but it preyed on horse, bison, musk ox ,yakk and its prey overlapped with cave lions. But I don't understand how it could be solitary in one environment and hunt in groups in another
Here’s my comment to help the algorithm: I know from being a scuba diver that what drives me to breath is getting rid of CO2 not the need for O2. Perhaps this is also true for extinct animals even if they didn’t scuba dive.
Just out of curiosity I came to check on your channel for any missed content and BAM this was just posted an hour ago. It was the universe calling me lol
Thank you for putting the spotlight on a lil known but very interesting Sabertoothed cat. I believe that with its stamina it would be the common cat in the old world.
![Twenty One Pilots - The Line (from Arcane Season 2) [Official Audio]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/XCz7WUotXs8/mqdefault.jpg)
A cat named “same beast” that wasn’t at all like other cats, spread across the globe using pursuit and bleed tactics like canids, and it dominated the biggest biome as an apex predator in the last great epoch. Very underrated and underrepresented animal.
ni**A WTF is familiar beast , i searched it up and got lolicon instead
@@atul7115 Homos: same. Therium: beast. Are you educated whatsoever in any topic?
@@atul7115 YOU GOT WHAT?!!
@@the_bohemian4536 testicular cancer
@@atul7115 probably the search algorithm taking into account your previous searches.
Congrats to Homotherium for joining the Ice age baby mummies club! Also it kind of shows these guys probably lived till the end of the Plistocene at least.
These cats were so cool and the fact that they were so adaptable makes their extinction hit harder.
Somewhere beyond the arctic circle their terror still reigns over shaggy beasts underneath a dim sun and storm battered skies. I want to believe.
@@Klikoderat same, brother. Same.
The heterotherium lived on... but for some strange reason, the homotherium went extinct.
@@Mr.Ekshin 🤣🤣🤣
@@Mr.Ekshin Because of homotheriaphobes.
The name Homotherium makes sense when you consider what it must of have been like for earlier paleontologist who found this strange big cat all over the world. Every conference they go to they start describing it and scientists from other parts of the world are like “what! I found the same beast here as well!”
This would definitely explain it 😼
The word "homoios" can actually mean "shared" as well. As in, a beast that is shared among all the continents.
@@clara_corvusno, it doesn't appear on all continents at all.
@@2secondslater You're right, I was being imprecise. It does, however, appear on 5/6 continents inhabited by humans.
@@clara_corvus yeh I gathered that, also, there are 7 inhabited continents 😵💫
Always love looking at underappreciated extinct animals.
I like the tiny horses
It would be cool to see a video about that shovel mouthed elephant
Is it sexual?
The panthera shawi
@@bricksloth6920 Eocene Horses are a huge fave of mine too. I don't love modern horses, so it's always surprised me how charmed I am by Eocene horses. & it's not their size in that era, bc I love me some Giant Sloth family too.
Homotherium has been my favorite extinct animal for a long time! The very idea of a cat being a social pursuit predator that specialized in hunting is just so, so fascinating! This was a great video about a truly amazing animal!
Somehow, the heterotherium managed to prosper, while homotherium quickly went extinct.
This was a fascinating look at a critter I have never heard of before
Good time to come back to this vid considering we just found a mummified cub of this animal
Great stuff! I'd like t point out that Homotherium is a genus comprised of 4 recognized species, I would argue that the genus Panthera historically achieved a similar distribution. It's absolutely fascinating to think that any extinct genus could be as diverse as the pantherine cats and we will likely never be sure about it.
RIGHT! Not to mention how many civilizations or land masses that have been submerged into the ocean over the centuries. Truly makes you wonder how much rich history of the world is just lost to time
True, but the genus Panthera is morphologically more diverse than Homotherium was. No "type" of Panthera, so to speak, ever achieved Homotherium's distribution. Lions were pretty close though.
@@gutemorcheln6134 If P. spelea and P. atrox are still considered lions I'd say they pretty much got there.
@@pumaconcolor2855 I'd count them as lions. They are now recognised mostly as distinct species, but still the spelaea-lions were the sister group to modern lions, meaning the lion is more closely related to them than to any other cat. Panthera spelaea and P. atrox also seem to have been broadly similar ecologically, although there is evidence to suggest that P. atrox at least was solitary, and P. spelaea also seems to have been less social than P. leo is.
As for the distribution, whether P. atrox entered South America is debated but perhaps likely (Panthera atrox/onca mesembrina), but as far as we know, no lion ever reached the Sunda islands, which Homotherium, however, did. I guess we might call it a draw here.
There is also others such as Panthera Shawi and Fossilis @@pumaconcolor2855
Basically it was a combination between a cat, a hyena and a bear.
So... an overgrown capybera then?
@@davidanderson_surrey_bc More like an anti-capybara.
Easily the single most under-appreciated prehistoric animal
How the hell do you even 'rank' that?! Useless tripe.
Another great video. You do an amazing job of demonstrating just how different Homotherium and Smilodon were which really helps one appreciate the diversity of the ecosystems at that time. I'll never look at these two cats the same again.
Knowing their similarities in ecology with wolves, and that they had a similar expansion to humans, I wonder if humans would have domesticated them if they had survived extinction.
We have never dominated cats.
They tolerate us at best 😁
We domesticated our chief rival, maybe we could have done it with the other.
Just imagine hunting with cats instead of hounds.
@@josephvisnovsky1462cat domestication has been a struggle due to their individualism. That said, if there were a feline exhibiting wolf-like social traits, it's both logical and entertaining to consider a mutualistic relationship w them and what that would've looked like.
Sabre tooth house cats 🤔??
I have heard of this animal, but I never knew how unique it was. Thank you sir!
Homotherium: the cat that wanted to be a dog. There's a movie to be made, there. Maybe our sad misfit protagonist teams up with a fox: the dog that wanted to be a cat. And just for fun, we throw in a Megatherium: the sloth that wanted to be the Hulk.
Throw a hyena in the mix : the feliform who wants to be a caniform
You're doing nothing short of a service by highlighting these lessor known, yet still amazingly fascinating creatures lost to extinction. I live in hope we will see a documentary on the Great American Interchange one day.
YES!!! 🌚🏜️🐈⬛
Thank you for this. It would have been terrifying to be actually chased by a saber-tooth cat, not that being pounced on by Smilodon would have been great, but running from something that was going to catch you no matter what would been pretty demoralizing. In any case, as a dedicated cat lover, I really appreciate the lesson on a cat that deserves much more recognition that it gets.
I would absolutely LOVE to see a video on Panthera Onca Augusta, the jaguar is one of the most unique big cats and I feel like it's also a very under-appreciated animal.
Panthera onca augusta
6:32 I thought Homotherium was digitigrade. Would make since if it was a pursuit predator built like a spotted hyena.
There’s also an article by Mauricio Anton published in 2021 on ResearchGate with a figure discussing whether Homotherium was digitigrade or plantigrade. It states that based on foot morphology it was most likely digitigrade. But I may have just missed a more recent study that says otherwise 🤷🏾♂️.
Either way, it’s just nice to see more in-depth Homotherium content 🙌🏾. A very under appreciated animal indeed, many thanks good sir!
But he also says saber cats teeth were exposed which too me seems highly unlikely due to the world they lived in (ice age) & the fact they are super dependent on their teeth. (At least last time I heard him speak on them). Both bears & humans are endurance/pursuit predators that are plantigrade. However I see your point, so maybe they had the ability to do both. Scimitar cats having a bear-like pelvis makes me believe they would have been able to stand on their hind feet for sometime, which is beneficial when scanning for prey during the day, similar to how cheetahs use termite mounds & fallen trees as look out points.
Been looking forward to this one for a long time! Thanks for doing this one!😊
Another triumph of clear education. Thanks!
I am always looking to learn new things. Today I really learned. I had never heard of Homotherium before. Now I have to learn more about this feline.
This one's for the algorithm. A highly enjoyable video.
I'm not good at leaving comments, but thank you. Your videos are a great bridge between "Hey, I have some interest" and "Let's wade into Paleonlotogy wholesale!" Thanks.
If you do collabs, you should do one with Lindsay Nikole, shes a RUclipsr that also does videos on prehistoric animals and modern animals
I like her, but I can't handle her long. Too aggressive
@@christianhunt7382 her voice and cadence needs work
I love Lindsay totally. THAT I KNOW OF❤.
Lindsay had Paleo Analysis on her channel and recommended the channel.
Despite the fact that this video covers an extinct species there's a feeling of respect to this video. Homotherium were absolutely amazing creatures and while they may be gone now that is just the way of things, nothing lasts forever so what matters most is the story you told along the way and this genus had a LOT to say. Rather than looking down at these beasts for dying out their loss is studied with fair conclusions, a sense of respect that even spills over to our ancestors who were at the wrong place at the wrong time to take all of the blame of the full disaster rather than the last straw in a bad situation, and a recognition of the creatures' successes.
Having recently come across some videos of old time-y paleo art that also covered how people initially viewed extinction, as "proof of a species's failure", the difference feels like whiplash.
Paleo Analysis when do you think that the next instalment of The Complete History of the Earth will come out?
It's gonna be the early Triassic, so there's a lot to cover.
Thanks for this deep look at the success of the homotherium.
Somehow, I'd never heard of homothereum before. I am very glad to have now learned of them thanks to you.
Thanks for covering Homotherium, its my favourite prehistoric animal for pretty much all the reasons you mentioned! 😁
Its a historical mystery too: first named by palentologist Emilio Fabrini in 1890, he gave no explanation behind its name and died before anyone could ask him. So we have no real idea why it was dubbed 'same beast' of all things. Its weird, non-descriptive name is probably one of the reasons its not more popular in media, honestly. 🤷♂️
Not exactly related to homotherium, but as someone who works with big cats, they truly are amazing creatures. Like you can totaly see how they are apex predators in their fields. And fun fact about tigers and lions specifically; we try to keep our animals as wild as we can and tigers are just straight up mean and super aggressive and lions are the complete opposite. Lions are like big, stinky, friendly house cats. They're both cats but one acts like an apex predator of the jungle, constantly honing it's skills and the other is... well... like a big house cat that can be stolen if bribed with treats.
They _are_ related.
@@Dr.IanPlect I meant the topic. But yeah
@@Mark8271997 ok
I guess it's comforting for people today to think that our nomadic ancestors were just as selfish, destructive, and wilfully ignorant as we are today. Our ancestors actually have an excuse of ignorance, we don't have that precious excuse.
After so many years of consuming paleo content, it’s not often that I learn so much new stuff in a single youtube video!
The statment about us not being the main cause of these animals extinction is straight up facts.
We could have been a contributor but generally even in modern cases we only cause extinctions when the species is already vulnerable and/or through targeted extermination campaigns. The truth is we definitely didn't cause the decline, but we may have been the ones who killed the last remaining individuals without realizing they were the last ones. Imagine growing up seeing such animals, but one day you see the last one without realizing that none of your decedents would ever see another. Its probably happened many times, the animals that are in strongest conflict with us are those that are desperate and living in degraded habitats which would have certainly been the case for the last few of these ice age animals so the last thousand or so that were brought into conflict due to the desperate circumstances they find themselves were sometimes taken out by us but that is not the fault of those people.
If a struggling population of smilodon was desperate enough to have to hunt small prey we would be a prime target, for our size we are somewhat slow but in the end those last surviving saber tooth cats were already on their way out if they had to go for prey they aren't adapted for. It is like how the Tasmanian tiger was already restricted to only a small part of its once massive native range, had it still ranged throughout Australia it would most likely still be around today.
@Exquailibur We're pretty terrible as a food source. It is much more likely that the last individuals moved closer to humans in order to access our refuse and domesticated animals. By the end of the last Ice Age, most healthy adult humans would have been nearly impossible to kill due to our weapons and social organization.
@@Exquailibur very true.
It can take many different factors to push a organism ro its demise.
@@Exquailibur Or through indirect mechanisms most often transporting other species into the region like rats and cats.
Depends on how you view it. If we take climatic changes and associated faunal population drops, and subsequent retreats into refugia during the Pleistocene as the constant. And humans the additional variable which then pushed many species into extinction with additional pressures from our not so insignificant influences. Any reasonable scientist would say that additional variable was a causative factor.
8:30 Eurasian/North American cold Sarengedi 11:45 Homatherium may have been a group hunter. 16:40 FOURHUNDRED baby mammoth individuals in a Homatherium cave 18:20 Insane Ice Age South American Mammalian carnivore compition.
An absolutely fantastic video on an incredible and far too unknown creature! Easily and by far the best video on Homotherium that I have found on RUclips! Please keep producing such awesome contacts!
Excellent video. I really appreciate the deep dives and longer format content!
Here's something I realized recently, because of that paper that came out recently showing evidence that theropod dinosaurs had some kind of lips covering their teeth. Because mammals only ever have two sets of teeth, no matter how long the teeth of a member of the Machairodontinae got, they had to be covered by lips. If enamel isn't kept moist, it turns brittle and chunks of it will break off the tooth. So the only way uncovered teeth can work is when the species is able to constantly replace the teeth, like crocs do. All mammals as far as I know only get 2 sets of teeth. So logically, unless they evolved someone other than enamel to coat their teeth with, they had to have their teeth covered. Which means, we should really be drawing them with massive chins, rather than bare teeth.
Indeed, Homotherium, and other machairodont cats with similar canines most likely had lips covering them.
Now with things like Smilodon and Megantereon, who’s fangs are quite long, it’s a little bit more mysterious.
There was that hypothesis that Smilodon had jowls like a bulldog, but that’s been thrown out soon after it’s conception.
@@beastmaster0934 Whatever they had, they had to have something to keep their sabres moist. Imagine if they had super slimy and thick saliva and that's what did it. Like a Saint Bernard, but even worse.
Slightly unrelated, but some mammals have continually replacing teeth like elephants. Of course they are herbivores and very different to cats, but it does show that not all mammals have only two sets of teeth.
Maybe they were able to keep the enamel moist by submerging the teeth into fresh quarry.
OR... they would take the teeth out at night and keep them in a jar of water.
OR... they chewed Dentine gum. That would explain the trace bits of spearmint found in their bone marrow.
OR... they spent their spare time lounging about the nearest watering hole.
@@davidanderson_surrey_bc Now I'm imagining a sabre-toothed tiger taking its teeth out to sleep.
Another quality and well researched video. Thanks for compiling!
Thank You for continuing to produce such high quality content.
O mighty algorithm, bless this humble video with eyeballs
I admire your teaching skills. I'm 71 and inspired by your work. So much to learn. ✨
This is the most underrated beast that we ever encountered or even dreamed of, thank you for this great docu. It is indeed difficult to imagine they were solitary predators, as I used to believe (rationale below) if they hunted elephants and mammoths. An unanswered question that seems then important is: were they decent climbers? Because I used to think they were, as most felines are, but with the kind of hunting strategy and gait that you describe, they were probably even more ground-bound than cheetas.
This brings me to the rationale I mentioned before: I observe a strong association between hominin evolution and felines in Africa: in the days of Homotherium, our ancient kin of bipedal but still somewhat arboreal and small-brained precursors (Australopithecus, Paranthropus and precursors like fascinating Sahelanthropus) managed to survive and even thrive pretty well but went all extinct approx. when lions (Panthera leo) arrived to Africa. This to me needs to be acknowledged as almost certainly the reason for the "punctual evolution" to Homo genus (larger brains, more strict bipedalism and crucially the first technology that we can truly call that way such as control of fire or stone tools) and needs analysis. I used to think that the reason Australopithecines and such survived was that Homotherium was solitary and thus less of a threat to our social kin (the other great predator in Africa were hyenas but not climbers, so trees provided safety in the night) but now I realize that that this is almost certainly not true but my misconception, the reason our kin was relatively safe was that Homotherium, like hyenas, was surely not a great climber... and anyhow it had other culinary interests of greater size than our pre-human ancestors.
When lions arrived (varies somewhat on author but at least 2Ma BP, when fossils already exist in East Africa), then we (hominids) had to face a new threat: social climber predators against which tree nesting provided no safety whatsoever anymore (more so as they hunt at night most of the time and were surely accompanied by their leopard relatives). This was necessarily a new and major game changer in Africa, very especially for our slow-moving kin, whose defenses were sociality and retained tree-climbing abilities only. The resulting mega-culling produced us (Homo sp.) as only survivors, who won the evolutionary race, not by being better at exploiting this or that resource... but better at defending from lions, especially at night, when controlled fire would have been a doubly useful weapon. Evolution typically works by pressure, negative selection of the less fit... after a new challenge appears, and our evolution was not different.
It's weird that nobody seems to be asking the question of what caused the positive selection of us among the once thriving bipedal hominids who clearly had a good life in the African savanna in spite of Homotherium and hyenas. It's a question that must be asked and one that IMO seems to have only one answer: social climber big cat invasion, namely lions.
Interesting.
Not that I have much to add. But I watch a lot of stuff.
I remember hearing our brains were able to develop greater and larger because we started to cook our food.
We spent much less energy chewing and digesting. We got more calories from the cooked food.
Basically, cooking our food gave us bigger brains and sped evolution.
Something to think about and maybe investigate for yourself. But another point for Fire somehow still not getting the credit it deserves! 🔥
@@apexnext - I'm not so sure about the cooking hypothesis: it may have helped (is a pre-digestion) but I don't think it's the main cause. However eating much more meat/fish than our ape cousins is probably helped a lot. In this sense cooking may have helped because we don't have the mouths of a carnivore but we do have relatively small guts almost like carnivores, as if a meat-based diet was part of us since the beginning (sorry, vegans, you got it all wrong).
In this sense it's probably not meat strictly (protein) as it is fat (energy) and that links with the theories that make sometimes our Australopithecines ancestors and even early Homo sp. as supposed consumers of fat-rich marrow (however this would have us competing with hyenas, who also exploit the bones). An old theory in this regard suggests that our sweaty, hairless bodies (plus the protective "hat" of thinly curled hair) would have allowed our ancestors to venture in search of carcasses (incl. their marrow-rich bones) at noon, when predators, less well prepared for the midday heat in the savanna, are dozing under the shadow of the acacias.
Wow this is really fascinating.
You have thought about this a lot havent you!?
@@apexnext - I did anthropo-paleo-blogging for a decade or so and obviously learning before that. So it's stuff that I have thought about or read about now and then... but not that much anyhow.
I recall that I got to the lions's hypothesis when I was sharing apartmente with another anthropo-paleo blogger many years ago and he was like "nah, I don't see it". But I do see it: there must be a reason all other clades in the Australopithecine branch went extinct almost at the same time... but not those who developed the basics of technology, notably fire.
To me its lions but of course it could be something else like "we ate all the australopithecines" or, simpler: "we displaced them". However many paranthropus were basically gorilla style grass-eaters, we don't compete with that niche. But lions would have eaten them in ways that hyenas could not.
The big issue was Homotherium, how was it different from lions. I thought it was because they were not social but apparently the reason was that they were not climbers instead.
In any case it's not only about thinking "a lot" but about "thinking outside the box" primarily.
@LuisAldamiz were we really just food for so many cats?
I knew they were a problem. Our instincts are still so engrained and heightened for a phantom in the dark lurking and stalking us, even in our modern times we can't turn it off.
A theory I heard of why Homotherium disappeared from the old world was competition with advanced hominids, with humans replacing them as diurnal pursuit predators of large herbivores. Think about it, where did Homotherium first disappear? Africa. Where did hominids first show up? Africa. And the latest place Homotherium survived the Americas was one of the last places hominids colonized.
It's an interesting theory as the timeline & fossil record for it match up quite well.
thank you for continuing to put out some of the best and most accesible paleo content on youtube. Your channel is a treasure.
Love the enthusiasm and information
Another great video!
Hi, Mr PA,
You mentioned, [12:45], that prey isolation by the family leads to the final severing the major arteries in the neck.
However, with track and kill hunters, whether quad- or bi-pedal, very often the method of bringing down prey is to inflict various [smaller or larger, many or few] lacerations so that the animal is bleeding consistently, whilst the hunters track the wounded beast, almost casually, until the prey is tiring, and slowing, and weakening, due to blood-loss and thirst.
It may be some days till the animal is caught-up, but due to weakness the final kill is much more subdued and less violent ie. less dramatic. This also pairs well with evidence of less broken teeth and injuries sustained by our [scimetar formed and serrated edged] toothy hunter.
Awesome video! You do a great job at giving us a vivid picture of what homotherium was like and the world it lived in.
I very much enjoy all your content. I love the deep dive videos and the history of the earth series. Cenozoic animals are some of my favorites and they are highly under-represented in Paleo media so I really enjoyed this one. Thanks for the work you put into making these ❤
That was awesome and beautyfull!!! Thank you really!!!! Good luck in your fossil hunt!! 😊
Wasn’t there a supercut of the Paleozoic era that was supposed to premiere too or is that being postponed? I feel like I’m seeing things.
That's coming up at the end of the month.
@@PaleoAnalysis ok. Thank you. Me and Spiny can’t wait.
Another super cool video! Good luck on the fossil dig!!
Great video on a truly fascinating predator! It is astounding that they are not more widely acknowledged, considering their long, successful run over such a huge range! Thank you for all the hard work creating your interesting, informative and entertaining videos. Have fun on your fossil hunt. All work and no play....
Besides dinosaurs, prehistoric mammals are the second thing I like.
Mainly because I work in a place here in Hungary that is rich in fossils from the miocene epoch/ period.
Hell yeah man I been waiting for yah my boi ❤
I just found you through Animalogic and I love your channel, grateful for discovering you! Very interesting content
So you're into dawg fighting then? Real nice dude.
Love the bear foot lion,I'm blown away with so much new information and context,thanks
I'm including these in a novel I'm writing. Not extinct, of course. I was originally thinking of smilodon (of course) but the social behavior of homotherium works better in the plot. That's right; intelligent, social apex predators that understand humans, big enough to ride, and feared by the ancients as god-killers. The plot practically writes itself.
Great breakdown as always!
The phenomenon you described with Homotherium and Smilodon coexisting is called “niche partitioning,” wherein similar organisms are able to occupy the same habitat by adopting different habits or exploiting different resources from one another, reducing direct competition and preventing them from crowding each other out.
Have fun on your trip, amigo!
Another fantastic video! Thanks for the information, you did a wonderful job as always. I would love to hear more about ancient cats from you. And scorpions, too.
super. always love your work... shows how much we have learnt or changed our view on things in the past 30 years or so that i learnt. wonderful....
Another Paleo Analysis great. I can tell this is one I'm going to rewatch more than once. Pleistocene fauna is too overlooked by both myself and others.
Great video once again! Look forward for the future of this channel.
I wrote this comment just for the algo. Wish your channel success!
Big fan of your takes on pleistocene megafauna extinction!!
Awesome you get out into the field ❤
As a huge cat nerd, I am surprised and pleased at how much I learned watching this.
I love learning about underappreciated animals
my sentiments have always mirrored yours on homotherium. the ways of popularity are a mystery at times, but it was an amazing animal.
Great, now time for the Prehistoric Bears, maybe some attention to the underappreciated there too, though always up for a short-faced bear episode or 3. Prehistoric Ursus Americanus Amplidens, Ursus Maritiumus Tyranicus, Steppes Brown Bear, bring it!
Top notch content! I never even heard of this species of cats.
Great video, I learned a lot
as a huge Smilodon fan, I'd say that Smilodon gets all that recognition because it was huge and it had those HUGE teeth. It gets all that attention for the same reason that T. rex gets all that attention: sheer awesome factor in the eyes of the general public. Homotherium is fascinating, but it's virtues are on the more subtle side if you put it side-by-side with Smilodon. A huge cat with knives for teeth that is built like a bear and probably specialized on megafauna? That's pretty badass, and you don't need to have an appreciation for the subtler things that make animals cool to enjoy that. Same reason why people love lions and tigers and don't even know about stuff like black-footed cats or fishing cats. The big charismatic things get all the attention. Heck, this can even boil further, mammal appreciation vs insect dismissal. Bringing it back, I love Smilodon. It's so cool. I also like the other machairodonts, they're very cool. But Smilodon really does capture my imagination and doesn't let go lol.
Thanks for the awesome content and great videos!!
You should do a video on your dig! I would love to learn more about the field work paleontologists do!
Honestly I just watched this video and dam it was not only knowledgeable but it was banger from the edits to the breakdown just got yourself a subscription 😂
That is so cool what a success story this odd ball of a saber toothed cat and it’s a shame that there are no living descendants of this species
Great video
About homotherium size it differ depending on subspecies
Homotherium serum were as big as modern lion and the largest homotherium crenatidens close to 300 kg
Well the smallest homotherium venezuelansis almost weight as less as 100 kg.
Thanks for posting this! I learned a lot!
Homotherium serum had non-retractable claws like a cheetah. In asking Dr. Jennifer Leonard a question via email about her work in Alaska with Beringian wolves, the mentioned that Homotherium, the American Lion, and the Short Faced Bear all inhabited the same environment but sequentially. It was if three species, A, B, and C were all there but only two at any given time. So A replaced B and B replaced C and C replaced A. But nobody knows which species replaced which.
Thank you for the added information. Another avenue to explore!! ☑️🌚🏜️🐈⬛
What is amazing about homotherium in beringia was it was supposedly more solitary but it preyed on horse, bison, musk ox ,yakk and its prey overlapped with cave lions. But I don't understand how it could be solitary in one environment and hunt in groups in another
Heck yeah man! Another awesome episode. Have a blast in the badlands!
Appreciate your research and well put together documentary!
This is great today is my birthday thank you for uploading this video on my birthday 🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 🎁 🎊
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday 🎉🌚🏜️🐈⬛☑️
This is the first video of yours I've seen, and I love it! Homotherium is my favorite feline of all time
my husband and i had never heard of them! they sound very interesting- thank you for the deep dive
Always a pleasure to view these vids, enjoy the dig the coming time!
Here’s my comment to help the algorithm: I know from being a scuba diver that what drives me to breath is getting rid of CO2 not the need for O2. Perhaps this is also true for extinct animals even if they didn’t scuba dive.
Just out of curiosity I came to check on your channel for any missed content and BAM this was just posted an hour ago. It was the universe calling me lol
Excellent, as always.
I liked the video, good explained and nice pictures.
Love your channel & this ep as always was killer! ( Oh btw it was cool seeing u on Lindsey's show!)
Thank you for putting the spotlight on a lil known but very interesting Sabertoothed cat. I believe that with its stamina it would be the common cat in the old world.
This was a great video, Homotherium is one of my favorite Ice Age Prehistoric Animals!!
I appreciate you covering the species! I’ve never heard of them before. :)
Great video, cats are my favorite animal, both living and extinct
I had not known about this creature before! This is so cool!
Finally able to watch the video! Thanks again for the awesome videos and amazing content!!