It sucked being a Smilodon

[suspsy]

Sure, you're big and scary-looking, but what good is that when you've got such a bad back?

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/the-dangers-of-being-a-sabertooth-cat

[CrypticPrism]

Honestly, this doesen't surprise me much.

[ZoPteryx]

Pretty good secondary evidence that they were tackling (perhaps literally!) big game.

[Simon]

In the final analysis, the animal was built for a certain type of predation, which caused certain types of injuries to the animals.  The design worked very well for a long, long time.

Dire wolves were kicked in the head and face instead because of their own style of hunting (like modern wolves).

Smilodons died out because a changing climate combined with predation by man (with the latter being the primary cause in my view) to decimate into extinction their prey animals.  Once their prey died out, Smilodons did too.

[Ravonium]

Due to how sensitive and weak Smilodon's teeth were and how slow it actually was, I'm not that surprised by this.