Paleontologists have announced the discovery of what they are call in a “ little divine revelation ” in Punta Hermengo , Argentina , where the first ever fossilizedsaber - toothed catpaw photographic print have been found . Presenting their work at the recentArgentine get together of Vertebrate Paleontology , the team revealed that the tracks were most in all probability made by aSmilodon populator – the magnanimous of the three known species ofSmilodon – and are about 20 percent larger than the paw prints of a Bengal tiger .
Researchers let out the prints of the animate being ’s front and hind paws , which they say have remained “ preserved in fine , gritty sediment ” since the second the beast took a perambulation through the area about 50,000 years ago . Measuring 17.6 centimeters ( 6.9 inches ) in duration and 19.1 centimetre ( 7.5 ) in width , the front paw is the larger of the two , and gives an meter reading of the ancient creature ’s awe-inspiring stature .
allot to the team , the animal lived during a South American realm mammal age called the Lujanian historic period , a geological time menstruation cross the Late Pleistocene and other Holocene . Thought to have live only in South America , S. populatoris alike to – yet bigger than – the well knownSmilodon fatalisspecies of saber - toothed khat , which rose to orbicular fame when the cadaver of a declamatory number of individuals were discovered in theLa Brea Tar Pitsin Los Angeles .
Yet while the street of Hollywood may be describe with the print of its large stars , S. fatalishas yet to provide researchers with a consummate track to sink their tooth into .
Though the German mark pull up stakes byS. fatalis ’s southern cousin display a number of morphologic feature that would seem to corroborate its identity element asS. populator , the researcher say it is impossible to be 100 percentage certain which creature the prints actually go to . Because of this , the tracks will be given a new species name , with the team suggesting it be calledSmilodon miramensis , after the Miramar region where Punta Hermengo is located .
