Home  Sabeltandtijger uit de Noordzee The Saber-toothed Cat of the North Sea
|
|
The Saber-toothed Cat of the North Sea |
|
|
|
In March 2000, while fishing for flatfish, a Dutch fishing vessel from
the village of Urk in The Netherlands brought up a fossilized lower jaw
bone of a sabertoothed cat (Homotherium latidens) from the bottom of the North Sea.
At that time it was thought that this Eurasian species went extinct
some 300,000 - 400,000 years ago. When the jawbone was
radiocarbon-dated, the startling result was an age of 28,000 years.
This sensational finding has been the incentive to produce
this educational and abundantly-illustrated book, providing never-before-published pictures.
The authors discuss the North Sea floor as a rich source of fossil
mammal remains from the Pleistocene (ice age) epoch. In addition they
give a very accurate account of the subfamily of saber-toothed cats and
a fascinating discussion of their evolution in different habitats,
including the once dry North Sea landscape.
They also elaborate on the sabertooth’s hunting techniques and target
prey such as woolly mammoths, woolly rhinos and steppe bison. The
classification and dating of the jaw is presented, along with other
evidence of late Pleistocene presence of this species in Europe, as
well as the most important fossil localities worldwide for
saber-toothed cats.
|
|