Assessing Behavior in Extinct Animals: Was Smilodon Social?
It has been suggested that saber-tooth species such as Smilodon fatalis were social because partially healed skeletal injuries were found at Rancho La Brea, California. This conclusion assumes injured animals would die without help. This paper will rebut assertions of sociality. First, cats use meta...
Published in: | Brain, Behavior and Evolution |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
S. Karger AG
2003
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000069752 https://www.karger.com/Article/Pdf/69752 |
id |
crskarger:10.1159/000069752 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crskarger:10.1159/000069752 2024-06-16T07:39:17+00:00 Assessing Behavior in Extinct Animals: Was Smilodon Social? McCall, Sherman Naples, Virginia Martin, Larry 2003 http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000069752 https://www.karger.com/Article/Pdf/69752 en eng S. Karger AG https://www.karger.com/Services/SiteLicenses https://www.karger.com/Services/SiteLicenses Brain, Behavior and Evolution volume 61, issue 3, page 159-164 ISSN 0006-8977 1421-9743 journal-article 2003 crskarger https://doi.org/10.1159/000069752 2024-05-22T13:00:32Z It has been suggested that saber-tooth species such as Smilodon fatalis were social because partially healed skeletal injuries were found at Rancho La Brea, California. This conclusion assumes injured animals would die without help. This paper will rebut assertions of sociality. First, cats use metabolic reserves to heal quickly without feeding. Second, dehydration is a more profound limitation than starvation as prey carcasses only provide a quarter of necessary water. Injured animals must be mobile enough to find water or die of dehydration. Their presence in a tar pit also strongly suggests locomotion. Finally, the relatively small brain found in Smilodon is not consistent with sociality. Another argument for sociality has been the large ratio of Smilodon to other species in the La Brea tar pits. However, the remains of a non-social species, the Golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetus), are about as common as Smilodon. Contrariwise, the highly social grey wolf (Canis lupus) and coyote (Canis latrans) are extremely rare. Available evidence does not support sociality in Smilodon. Article in Journal/Newspaper Canis lupus golden eagle Karger Brain, Behavior and Evolution 61 3 159 164 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Karger |
op_collection_id |
crskarger |
language |
English |
description |
It has been suggested that saber-tooth species such as Smilodon fatalis were social because partially healed skeletal injuries were found at Rancho La Brea, California. This conclusion assumes injured animals would die without help. This paper will rebut assertions of sociality. First, cats use metabolic reserves to heal quickly without feeding. Second, dehydration is a more profound limitation than starvation as prey carcasses only provide a quarter of necessary water. Injured animals must be mobile enough to find water or die of dehydration. Their presence in a tar pit also strongly suggests locomotion. Finally, the relatively small brain found in Smilodon is not consistent with sociality. Another argument for sociality has been the large ratio of Smilodon to other species in the La Brea tar pits. However, the remains of a non-social species, the Golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetus), are about as common as Smilodon. Contrariwise, the highly social grey wolf (Canis lupus) and coyote (Canis latrans) are extremely rare. Available evidence does not support sociality in Smilodon. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
McCall, Sherman Naples, Virginia Martin, Larry |
spellingShingle |
McCall, Sherman Naples, Virginia Martin, Larry Assessing Behavior in Extinct Animals: Was Smilodon Social? |
author_facet |
McCall, Sherman Naples, Virginia Martin, Larry |
author_sort |
McCall, Sherman |
title |
Assessing Behavior in Extinct Animals: Was Smilodon Social? |
title_short |
Assessing Behavior in Extinct Animals: Was Smilodon Social? |
title_full |
Assessing Behavior in Extinct Animals: Was Smilodon Social? |
title_fullStr |
Assessing Behavior in Extinct Animals: Was Smilodon Social? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Assessing Behavior in Extinct Animals: Was Smilodon Social? |
title_sort |
assessing behavior in extinct animals: was smilodon social? |
publisher |
S. Karger AG |
publishDate |
2003 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000069752 https://www.karger.com/Article/Pdf/69752 |
genre |
Canis lupus golden eagle |
genre_facet |
Canis lupus golden eagle |
op_source |
Brain, Behavior and Evolution volume 61, issue 3, page 159-164 ISSN 0006-8977 1421-9743 |
op_rights |
https://www.karger.com/Services/SiteLicenses https://www.karger.com/Services/SiteLicenses |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1159/000069752 |
container_title |
Brain, Behavior and Evolution |
container_volume |
61 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
159 |
op_container_end_page |
164 |
_version_ |
1802005995400986624 |