劍齒虎因其匕首般的牙齒而聞名于世，然而與老虎,、獅子甚至其他現(xiàn)代貓科動物相比,，它們的致命一咬可能是最沒勁兒的。
據(jù)美國《科學》雜志在線新聞報道,，實際上,，這種已經(jīng)絕滅的貓科動物主要是依靠攻擊的準確性來完成捕獵——它們會利用長長的牙齒迅速刺穿獵物的喉嚨，這是研究人員根據(jù)劍齒虎頭骨的進化而得出的分析結(jié)果,。盡管很有效,，這種捕獵方式卻導致了劍齒虎走向滅亡，這是因為它們能夠殺死的物種變得越來越有限。當猛犸和其他首選獵物相繼絕滅,，劍齒虎便也在地球上消失了,。與此形成對照的是，現(xiàn)代貓科動物強大的咬合力使得它們能夠捕殺不同種類的動物,。研究人員在最近的《公共科學圖書館·綜合》（PLoS One）網(wǎng)絡版上報告了這一研究成果,。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
PLoS One,，3(7): e2807. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0002807,，Per Christiansen
Evolution of Skull and Mandible Shape in Cats (Carnivora: Felidae)
Per Christiansen*
Department of Vertibrates, Zoological Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark
Abstract
The felid family consists of two major subgroups, the sabretoothed and the feline cats, to which all extant species belong, and are the most anatomically derived of all carnivores for predation on large prey with a precision killing bite. There has been much controversy and uncertainty about why the skulls and mandibles of sabretoothed and feline cats evolved to become so anatomically divergent, but previous models have focused on single characters and no unifying hypothesis of evolutionary shape changes has been formulated. Here I show that the shape of the skull and mandible in derived sabrecats occupy entirely different positions within overall morphospace from feline cats, and that the evolution of skull and mandible shape has followed very different paths in the two subgroups. When normalised for body-size differences, evolution of bite forces differ markedly in the two groups, and are much lower in derived sabrecats, and they show a significant relationship with size and cranial shape, whereas no such relationship is present in feline cats. Evolution of skull and mandible shape in modern cats has been governed by the need for uniform powerful biting irrespective of body size, whereas in sabrecats, shape evolution was governed by selective pressures for efficient predation with hypertrophied upper canines at high gape angles, and bite forces were secondary and became progressively weaker during sabrecat evolution. The current study emphasises combinations of new techniques for morphological shape analysis and biomechanical studies to formulate evolutionary hypotheses for difficult groups.
