Ancient Sea Bear Had Same Bite As Saber-Toothed Tiger

An ancient sea bear called Kolponomos ate in the same manner as a saber-toothed tiger, according to researchers. The creature, which is now extinct, has been known to researchers since a handful of skulls were discovered in the Pacific Northwest region of the US, though researchers originally believed them to be some sort of raccoon-like critter. Most recently, scientists have found the sea bear had the same bite pattern as the saber-toothed tiger, which existed millions of years after the bear.

Kolponomos was a sea bear that, among other things, ate mollusks from the bottom of the sea. These mollusks had hard shells, of course, and so the bear had to be able to bite them open. Researcher Z. Jack Tseng with the American Museum of Natural History was the first to notice the similarities between the sea bear and saber-toothed tiger's skull structure.

Unlike the saber-toothed tiger, the sea bear did not have saber teeth. However, parts of the skulls from both creatures are similar, and so Tseng looked into how they used their jaws. As it turns out, both creatures likely used their bottom jaws as a sort of anchor point, fixing the head onto the prey so that large — and powerful — muscles could wrench the meal open.

The image above shows scanned images of both skulls, which were turned into 3D computer models. With these, researches were able to run simulations of how each jaw bites. Speaking to Live Science, Tseng said, "What we found was that, in efficiency and in skull stiffness, Kolponomos and Smilodon were most similar to each other, and not to their closest relatives. There's a connection between how they look and how they work structurally."

SOURCE: Livescience