Machairodontinae - Popular Culture

Popular Culture

Even if one does not know what a machairodont is, they will surely know what a sabre-toothed cat is, even if this understanding is simply a very large cat with very long canines. Those very canines are legendary and have inspired popular culture and science fiction time and time again. During the initial discovery of saber-toothed fossils, people's worst nightmares seemed to be coming to life and public imagination overruled any substantial factual basis. Images of gaping mouthed Smilodon and Machairodus leaping on the back of massive prey and preparing to stab its teeth into the neck of the violently struggling animal filled books on the subject and the instinctual terror of these ferocious animals waged their representation as terrible monsters that seemed not even the imagination could create. Some polls rate Smilodon and other machairodonts as popular as Tyrannosaurus for favorite extinct species.

The potency of the idea of saber-toothed predators is spurred on by the instinctive fear by humans of large predators and the equality of canines and aggression, another source of fear. The fascination with this extinct group rivaled and exceeded almost all other extinct groups of animals. The fear and interest in saber-toothed predators, specifically machairodonts, and even more specifically Smilodon as it often is, created numerous allusions to them in popular culture. Their skeletons grace many museums, paintings and drawings along with statues and sculptures of these animals are numerous.

Below are several examples of public displays, artistic interpretations, and symbols incorporating machairodonts.

• An illustration from the Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary depicting in the lower right a machairodont skull, probably Smilodon.

• Fragments of a Homotherium skull beside an artistic interpretation of the same genus

• A stylized mosaic of presumably Smilodon on a building in Berlin

• A statue of a gaping Smilodon

• A Smilodon statue guarding the entrance of the La Plata Museum in Argentina

• A model, stuffed and complete with hair, of Smilodon in the Hungarian Natural History Museum

• One of Charles Knight's numerous paintings of Smilodon

• An articulated skeleton of Xenosmilus at the Florida Museum of Natural History's Fossil Hall at the University of Florida

• An articulated skeleton of Smilodon at a museum

In 1977, the movie Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger featured a large machairodont, probably Smilodon, called a Troglodyte, animated in stop-motion, which offers one of the challenges to be overcome by the main character, Sinbad.

In 2001, BBC produced Walking with Beasts, a mini-series depicting Smilodon in one episode which follows the life of an imaginary Smiodon group and their social interactions which were very similar to that of modern lions.

In a BBC mini series spanning the years of 2002-2003, Ice Age Death Trap features several species caught in the La Brea tar pits, including Smilodon. It includes a scene with an individual killing a camel with a general "bite and retract" to the neck (Main Article: The Modern Killing Hypotheses; General "Bite and Retract" on this page).

In 2006, BBC aired a mini series titled Prehistoric Park featuring Smilodon.

In 2007, BBC mini series Primeval incorporated a scene in which the main characters must battle a large machairodont.

In 2008, Warners Bros announced the production of the film 10,000 BC. This film, as the name suggests, takes place rough 12,000 years ago and follows the fictional tale of a hero. Smilodon plays a key role in this film as the savage predator who, according to a prophecy, will refuse to kill the man destined to save them, which plays out with the main character and a greatly over sized Smilodon.

In 2008 as well, Prehistoric Predators, a mini series aired by National Geographic, featured behaviors and interactions between the dire wolf, Smilodon, and the short-faced bear.