Humongous Smilodon Skull

[suspsy]

Turns out Smilodon populator was even larger than previously thought. Literally as big as a brown bear!

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/technology/they-knew-saber-toothed-tigers-were-big-then-they-found-this-skull/ar-BB11gdL0?ocid=sf

[SidB]

Perhaps this gives us the option to use 1/15 or so smilodons with 1/20 prey  mammals, since the former almost always come in the larger scale format and can't otherwise fit easily into the 1/20 Pleistocene diorama.

[austrosaurus]

I wonder if this was the upper size limit for the entire species, or if this one specimen was an aberration that just happened to make it into the fossil record.

[suspsy]

I would say it's the former. The chances of an aberration like that becoming a fossil AND being discovered are almost nil. Such giants may have been fairly rare, just like how only a few male brown bears manage to achieve over 1,000 lbs while the majority max out at 600-800 lbs.