The Saber Toothed Cats (also known as Smilodon fatalis, Sabre-toothed Tiger, or just Smilodon) are large carnivorous big cats that lived in the late pleistocene in North America during the ice ages. In Zoo Tycoon: Dinosaur Digs and Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct Animals. The species in the game, smilodon fatalis, roamed throughout North America. It lived alongside other species such as the Columbian Mammoth as well as species of bison and horse. Bison consisted of most of Smilodon's diet.
Smilodon's most prominent feature are their long canines, hence the name smilodon fatalis, meaning "deadly knife-tooth". Its mouth could open to 120 degrees, whereas the modern lion could only open to 65 degrees. Despite the menacing appearance of its terrifying mouth, Smilodon's bite force was rather weak and its teeth were very delicate. The teeth could snap off easily if smilodon were holding a struggling prey animal in its mouth. In the game, Smilodon is most commonly striped, but is occasionally spotted, white, and even jet-black. In real life, if Smilodon had any markings at all, they would most likely be spots, the best camouflaging it in its environment. However, the white and jet black fur colors can be explained as leucism and melanism respectively, these two being recessive traits that cause reduced pigmentation in the case of the former, and an overabundance of melanin in the latter.
It is believed that smilodon would sneak up on its prey very quietly, pounce on it, and bring it down with great strength. Then it would deliver a slashing bite to the throat, killing the prey very quickly, so that it could eat as much as possible before other animals came along and tried to steal the kill. Some believe that Smilodon may have lived in groups. This would benefit their survival by ensuring that injured members of the group could be fed by other members until they recovered. Also, Smilodon cubs would be better protected in a pack than with only their mother.
In Zoo Tycoon
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The Smilodon was available in the Dinosaur Digs expansion pack. It resides in the tundra biome. However, it requires large amounts of gray and brown stone. Its preferred foliage is the Arctic Bush. They also like a large amount of cliffs and hills. This version is very powerful, and can easily bring down animals much larger than itself including Woolly Mammoth and Giant ground sloths. While some of these animals were probably food sources for Smilodon, it likely would have hunted in packs to bring these types of prey down.
In Zoo Tycoon 2
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The Saber Toothed Cat in Zoo Tycoon 2's favorite biome is Boreal Forest, but can tolerate tundra just like the Alaskan sabre-toothed tiger. There are 3 variants: One similar to the main skin, but with spots on the back instead of stripes, one is white with blue eyes, similar to a white tiger, and one that is black with green eyes, similar to a black leopard, though at a closer look, it is actually dark purple, with black stripes and spots. Even if a parent with a color variant mates, it is rare to have one of the three colors. This version has several inaccuracies, such as having a smaller skull than in real life. However, it is still fairly accurate compared to the unrealistically voracious Saber Toothed Cat from the first game.
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