Reconstructed facial appearance of the sabretoothed felid Smilodon

Life reconstructions are a useful means of providing a package of informati on about morphology, functionality, behaviour, biology and ecological chara cteristics of an extinct organism. These reconstructions are of interest no r only to researchers but also to a wider public. Reconstructions of sabret oothed cats in particular are widely published and exhibited, despite the a bsence of a general consensus on either how their canines were used or the prey sought. Cat-like restorations of the American Pleistocene sabretooth g enus Smilodon prepared by Charles Knight under the direction of J.C. Merria m were accepted as valid for over three decades until G.J. Miller criticize d them, claiming that Smilodon should have looked very different from moder n felids. In particular, he argued for a longer mouth opening and lip line to provide a wider gape, a retracted nose and ears set relatively lower on a head with a straighter dorsal profile. These arguments were accepted by m any authors employing reconstructions, and have lead to depictions of bizar re appearance and interpretations of rather specialized feeding behaviour. We believe thar phylogenetic, anatomical and functional considerations poin t to substantial flaws in the basis for such depictions, and argue for a re turn to more felid-like morphology and to interpretations of broadly car-li ke eating patterns. (C) 1998 The Linnean Society of London.