Saber Tooth Tiger Habitat – Where did the Saber Tooth Tiger Live

The physical surroundings or the environment in which an animal, plant or any other living thing live is called the habitat of that particular animal, plant, or living thing. Saber Tooth Tiger Habitat will consist of the ecological environment, which was inhabited by the Saber Tooth Tiger (Smilodon). Sabertooth tiger is very popular among the various extinct cat species. Since it got extinct 23 million to 10,000 years ago at the end of the ice age, its habitat is of particular interest to many students. We have gathered complete information about the Saber Tooth Tiger Habitat to let you know Where did the Saber Tooth Tiger Live.

Saber Tooth Tiger Habitat

• Fossils of the Saber Tooth tigers have been found throughout America. They suggest that it used to live in a closed and open habitat i.e. in woodlands, bushes & grasslands.
• The anatomy of the Saber Tooth Tiger also provides information about its preferred habitat.
  A robust skeleton, with exceptionally powerful limbs, indicates it as an ambush predator
  Ambush predators depend on forest habitats, bushy plains, and margins of woodlands.
• Sabertooth tiger habitat mainly consists of grasslands, shrubby areas, and pine forests that have permanent water sources such as floodplains, marshes, swamps,  bogs, rivers, lakes, and wetlands.
• It is inhabited in the temperate regions of North America. Such regions were rich in vegetation such as woods, shrubs, and grasses. These vegetation-rich areas were home to large herbivores like bison, antelope, horses, camels, deer, mastodons, mammoths, and ground sloths, most of which were part of the saber tooth tiger diet.
• The sub-specie of the Sabertooth tiger, S. fatalis, was found in North America along with the American lion.
• The sub-specie, S. gracilis, was found in South America during the period of early to middle Pleistocene. The other sub-species S. populator was found in the eastern part of South America.
• S. fatalis entered western South America at the end of the Pleistocene period. The subspecies lived apart from each other divided by the Andes mountain ranges.
• S populator was larger among the other three subspecies of saber tooth tiger. It was because of a lack of competition for food. It preferred large herbivores as its prey, which were mainly found in open habitats i.e. plains and grasslands.

Saber Tooth Tiger Habitat by Sub Species

Eastern Saber Tooth Tiger (Smilodon fatalis fatalis)

• Its habitat consists of open meadows, grassy flood plains, coastal prairies, and savannas.
• Its range was:
  • from South Carolina up through Pennsylvania to Maine
  • the Canadian maritime mainland
  • the eastern foothills of Appalachia.

California Saber Tooth Tiger (Smilodon fatalis californicus)

• This sub-specie of smilodon was found in California, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Arizona, southern Washington, and New Mexico, down into the Baja California peninsula.
• Its habitat was mainly in grasslands, semi-deserts, and bush country.

North Rocky Mountain Saber Tooth Tiger (Smilodon fatalis idahoensis)

• This sub-specie lived in Idaho, Wyoming, western Montana, western Colorado, and the Canadian Rockies.
• Its habitat consisted of:
  • alpine clearings and meadows of the northern half of the rocky mountain range.
  • the lowland prairies.
  • bush country terrain at the foot of the mountains.

Great Plains Saber Tooth Tiger (Smilodon fatalis nebraskensis)

• Its habitat was the Great Plains that ranged:
  • from northern Alberta in Canada through middle America to central Mexico,
  • from the eastern foothills of the Rockies to Illinois and Wisconsin.

New Mexico Saber Tooth Tiger (Smilodon fatalis albuquerquensis)

• Its habitat included the semi-deserts and dry prairies of New Mexico and far west Texas.

Central American Saber Tooth Tiger(Smilodon fatalis salvadorensis)

• Its habitat included the open areas of Central America and the Yucatan.

Ohio Valley Saber Tooth Tiger (Smilodon fatalis indianensis)

• It was found in:
  • the Ohio valley states
  • Tennessee.
  • Kentucky
  • western Pennsylvania
  • the Great Lakes region
  • southernmost Ontario
  • west Virginia

Cherokee Saber Tooth Tiger (Smilodon fatalis floridanus)

• It lived in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Florida.
• The Cherokee tribe had great respect for this species.

Arctic Saber Tooth Tiger (Smilodon fatalis alascanensis)

• It lived in Alaska and the Canadian mainland of the arctic region
• It ranged from the Labrador peninsula along the coast of Hudson bay across Nunavut to the Bering Strait.

Where did the Saber Tooth Tiger Live

• In the north, their range included Canada and north of the United States of America while in the south it included Central and South America.
• In South America, Saber tooth tigers mostly lived on the western side of the Andes mountains. Its habitat falls in the countries of Chile, Ecuador, and Peru.
• In North America, it lived in Rancho La Brea in California. About 2000 individual fossils of the sub-species Smilodon fatalis have been found in this area.

Learn more: Saber Tooth Tiger Facts