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About Homotherium:
The most successful of all the saber-toothed cats, Homotherium spread as far afield as North and South America, Eurasia and Africa, and enjoyed an unusually long time in the sun: this genus persisted from the start of the Pliocene epoch, about 5 million years ago, to as recently as 10,000 years ago (at least in North America). Often called a "scimitar cat" because of the shape of its teeth, Homotherium probably hunted in packs, taking down prey as diverse as early humans and woolly mammoths.
The oddest feature of Homotherium was the imbalance between its front and hind legs: with its long front limbs and squat hind limbs, this prehistoric cat was shaped more like a modern hyena, with which it shared the habit of hunting (or scavenging) in packs. The large nasal openings in Homotherium's skull hint that it required large amounts of oxygen (meaning it may have chased prey at high speeds), and the structure of its hind limbs indicates that it was capable of sudden, murderous leaps.
