【精品推荐】剑齿虎骨化石

剑齿虎是一类史前的大型猫科动物，我们可以认为，其是现存的老虎的近亲。目前已出土的化石证据表明，剑齿虎有迅剑虎属、异刃虎属、刃齿虎属等。与老虎不同的是，这类史前“大猫”，拥有着伸出嘴外的上犬齿，这种上犬齿比现代的野猪的獠牙还要大得多，也正是因此它们才被命名为剑齿虎。

Saber toothed tiger is a kind of prehistoric large feline. We can think that it is a close relative of the existing tiger. At present, fossil evidence has been found that saber toothed tiger has three genera, i.e. fast saber tiger, different edge tiger and edge toothed tiger. Unlike tigers, these prehistoric "big cats" have upper canine teeth that protrude out of their mouths, which are much larger than the tusks of modern boars. That's why they are named Saber Toothed tigers.

可惜的是，这种拥有锋利牙齿的猫科动物早在1万年以前就全部灭绝。多数研究人员认为，食物的短缺也是造成剑齿虎灭绝的主要原因。这种体型较为健硕的动物，在全世界的动物都朝着缩小体积的年代，逐渐失去了狩猎的优势，比如爬树、长途奔波和书案件爆发力。

Unfortunately, this cat with sharp teeth died out as early as 10000 years ago. Most researchers believe that food shortage is also the main cause of saber toothed tiger extinction. This kind of robust animal gradually lost the advantages of hunting, such as tree climbing, long-distance running and explosive power of books and cases, when the animals all over the world were moving towards reducing their size.

根据以往的化石资料，多数研究人员认为，作为一个凶猛的狩猎者，剑齿虎会在在开阔的草原或低矮稀疏的灌木地带上捕食野牛等食草动物。但科学家通过对美国加州拉布里沥青池中出土数百颗剑齿虎牙齿化石进行分析之后，却发现剑齿虎的生活习惯或和以往的认知截然不同。

According to previous fossil data, most researchers believe that as a fierce hunter, saber toothed tiger will prey on herbivores such as bison in open grassland or low and sparse shrub land. But after analyzing hundreds of saber tooth fossils unearthed in the asphalt pool in labri, California, US, scientists found that saber tooth tiger's living habits or cognition were quite different.

美国田纳西州范德比尔特大学的古生物学家Larisa DeSantis刊登在《当代生物学》的研究报告指出，不同于人们对剑齿虎的固有印象，剑齿虎可能是生活在森林里的一种动物，且主要以食草类的鹿等动物为食，而不是草原上的野牛。

Larisa de Santis, a paleontologist at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, published in the current biology report, pointed out that unlike people's inherent impression of Saber Toothed tigers, Saber Toothed tigers may be a kind of animal living in the forest, and they mainly feed on grass like deer and other animals, rather than buffalo on the grassland.

科学家发现，有两个微小的碳同位素会在森林和草原的植物中呈现不同速率的积累，而食草类动物在采食这些植物之后，会将这两个碳同位素传递给食肉类动物，随后，通过研究美国加州拉布里出土的大型食肉类动物牙釉质中两种碳同位素的比例，就可以得出相应的动物是在森林还是在草原狩猎。

Scientists found that two tiny carbon isotopes accumulate at different rates in plants of forest and grassland, and herbivores will transfer these two carbon isotopes to carnivores after they eat these plants. Then, by studying the proportion of two carbon isotopes in enamel of large carnivores unearthed in rabley, California, the United States, we can get the corresponding ratio Are the animals hunting in the forest or in the grassland.

过去，有不少科学家认为，剑齿虎等大型肉食性动物的灭绝或和它们之间争夺食物有关，但新的研究指出，由于捕食来源地的不同，造成了这些动物的牙釉质同位素不同，这也说明，它们之间或并不存在对同类型食物的争夺。

In the past, many scientists believed that the extinction of large carnivorous animals such as Saber Toothed tigers was related to the competition for food between them. However, new research pointed out that the enamel isotopes of these animals were different due to the different sources of predation, which also indicated that there was no competition for the same type of food between them.

虽然，也有证据表明剑齿虎曾在拉布里吃过野牛，但同时也有学者指出，过去曾有一个野牛的亚种是生活在森林里。而生活在森林里的野牛，必将会成为剑齿虎最理想的猎物。

Although there is also evidence that Saber Toothed tigers have eaten bison in rabri, some scholars have pointed out that there was a subspecies of bison that lived in the forest in the past. The bison living in the forest will become the most ideal prey for Saber Toothed tigers.

科学家指出，剑齿虎灭绝的另外一个原因是高度单一的猎物偏好。不仅是远古时期，就算放在当下，自然状体下野生动物如果仅选择一种食物来源，必然也会走向灭绝。

Scientists point out that another reason for the extinction of saber toothed tiger is its highly single prey preference. Not only in ancient times, but also in the present, if the wildlife under the natural body only chooses one food source, it will inevitably go extinct.

图中所示为近日四川嘉玉宝阁征集到的一件藏品：剑齿虎骨化石，分别重439g，394g，实属罕见之物，值得收藏。

The picture shows a collection collected by jiayubao Pavilion in Sichuan Province recently: the bones of saber toothed tiger, weighing 439g and 394g respectively, are rare and worth collecting.