Significant sabre-toothed cat fossil uncovered in Venezuela

by Rich Bowden - Aug 21 2008, 23:00

The discovery of sabre-toothed cat fossils in tar pits in the eastern Venezuelan state of Monagas has been described as one of the most important South American archaeological finds in recent years.

Img: Fossilised skeleton of a sabre-toothed cat at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Credit: E.V. More

Uncovered by oil workers in pits larger than two football fields in the oil-rich region, the 1.8 million year-old fossils consisted of skulls and jawbones of six scimitar-toothed cats -- a variety of saber-toothed cat with shorter, narrower canine teeth than other species -- reported AP. This particular cat species has never before been found in South America and offers a look into the environment shortly after North and South America became connected, say experts."It's South America's most important discovery in 60 years," Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Investigation paleontologist Ascanio Rincon told AFP. Other experts agreed it was a momentous find."The find is one of the most spectacular and scientifically interesting discoveries of the last decade," said University of Kansas professor Larry D. Martin, an expert on sabre-toothed cats who was not involved in the find. "The genus hadn't been known from South America before."The now-extinct scimitar-toothed cat has been confirmed as living in Africa, Europe, Asia and North America, but fossils had not been uncovered in South America until a discovery in 2006.Rincon estimated the cat became extinct in South America some 500,000 years ago. He added the fossil discovery proved the cat existed in the same environment as the sabre-toothed tiger and said the tar pit also contained ancient fossils of panthers, wolves, camels, condors, ducks and horses.

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Significant sabre-toothed cat fossil uncovered in Venezuela

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