#nimravinae

[tysonfurybattlepass]

What’s the group of animals that look like sabertooths but are not felids I think you mentioned o: ?

yes, the families nimravidae and barbourofelidae! some of them were sabertoothed, some had conical teeth like carnivorans of today. they were feliforms, but could be distinguished from true cats by their bearlike plantigrade feet and five back toes!

some, like dinictis felina, were as small as ocelots. some, like quercylurus major, were as large as grizzly bears!

afaik it’s still being debated whether the incredibly bizarre barbourofelids were nimravids or part of their own family.

built more like bears than like cats, these guys had some of the biggest mandibular flanges any animal has ever evolved. second only to the equally strange thylacosmilus, of course.

[tysonfurybattlepass]

talk to me about evolutionary biology i dare you i’m so so normal about it