Editing Saber-toothed predator (section)

==Biology==
The similarity in all these unrelated families involves the convergent evolution of the saber-like canines as a hunting adaptation. Meehan ''et al.''<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Meehan | first1 = T.J. | last2 = Martin | first2 = L.D. | year = 2003 | title = Extinction and Re-Evolution of Similar Adaptive Types (Ecomorphs) in Cenozoic North American Ungulates and Carnivores Reflect van der Hammen's Cycles | journal = Naturwissenschaften | volume = 90 | issue = 3| pages = 131–135 | doi = 10.1007/s00114-002-0392-1 | pmid=12649755| bibcode = 2003NW.....90..131M | s2cid = 21117744 }}</ref> note that it took around 8 million years for a new type of saber-toothed cat to fill the niche of an extinct predecessor in a similar ecological role; this has happened at least four times with different families of animals developing this adaptation. Although the adaptation of the saber-like canines made these creatures successful, it seems that the shift to [[obligate carnivore|obligate carnivorism]], along with [[co-evolution]] with large prey animals, led the saber-toothed cats of each time period to extinction. As per Van Valkenburgh, the adaptations that made saber-toothed cats successful also made the creatures vulnerable to extinction. In her example, trends toward an increase in size, along with greater specialization, acted as a "macro-evolutionary ratchet": when large prey became scarce or extinct, these creatures would be unable to adapt to smaller prey or consume other sources of food, and would be unable to reduce their size so as to need less food.<ref name="Deja vu">{{cite journal|last=Van Valkenburgh|first=B.|title=Deja vu: the evolution of feeding morphologies in the Carnivora|journal=Integrative and Comparative Biology|year=2007|volume=47|issue=1|pages=147–163|doi=10.1093/icb/icm016|pmid=21672827|doi-access=free}}</ref>

More recently, it has been suggested that ''[[Thylacosmilus]]'' differed radically from its placental counterparts in possessing differently shaped canines and lacking incisors. This suggests that it was not ecologically analogous to other saber-teeth and possibly an entrail specialist.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Janis |first1=Christine M. |last2=Figueirido |first2=Borja |last3=DeSantis |first3=Larisa |last4=Lautenschlager |first4=Stephan |title=An eye for a tooth: ''Thylacosmilus'' was not a marsupial "saber-tooth predator" |journal=PeerJ |volume=8 |year=2020 |pages=e9346 |pmid=32617190 |pmc=7323715 |doi=10.7717/peerj.9346 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Another study has found that other saber toothed species similarly had diverse lifestyles and that superficial anatomical similarities obscure them.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Lautenschlager |first1=Stephan |last2=Figueirido |first2=Borja |last3=Cashmore |first3=Daniel D. |last4=Bendel |first4=Eva-Maria |last5=Stubbs |first5=Thomas L. |title=Morphological convergence obscures functional diversity in sabre-toothed carnivores |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=287 |issue=1935 |year=2020 |pages=20201818 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2020.1818|pmid=32993469 |pmc=7542828 }}</ref>