Chapter 7: The American Scimitar Cat
Dr. John Storer is Yukon Paleontologist; in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, NW Canada, east of Alaska. The backside of his calling card has a picture, reproduced from a painting. It shows the Yukon Territory during the time of the woolly mammoth during the arctic winter: Woolly mammoths are plodding through patches of snow. There are musk-oxen (Ovibos), wild horses, steppe bison, and other kinds of hoofed animals in the far distance. Most of the ground in the foreground of this picture is bare of snow and of plants. At a few spots, on top of the bare rock, there is some brown, dried-up vegetation. It seems to be about 1-2 cm tall. There are no trees and shrubs whatsoever. In the background, more of the flat ground is covered with this short dried-up vegetation.
A woolly mammoth and a scimitar-cat in the Yukon Territory, Northwest Canada, during the height of the Last Ice Age. According to John Storer, Discover Beringia. In such an arctic climate neither the mammoth nor the saber-tooth cat could have lived. They would have starved to death.
On the front page of Dr. John Storer's folder, entitled Discover Beringia, there is a woolly mammoth. The tip of its right tusk is broken off. And in front of the mammoth, there is a scimitar cat (as large as a lion). And in front of this scimitar cat, the skull of a steppe bison. It is winter in Eastern Beringia (Yukon/Alaska). A few dry, brown grasses, 1-2 cm tall, are sitting on top of the rocks and boulders. Further back, covered in places by patches of thin snow, dry, brown grass, about 10 cm tall, is standing. The text on the inside page of this folder says: "The lost sub-continent of Beringia dates back to the last great ice age. While the rest of Canada lay frozen under massive sheets of ice, a region encompassing eastern Siberia, Alaska and Yukon remained untouched by glaciers. Sea levels dropped by as much as 125 metres, and a grassy tundra appeared, supporting an astonishing variety of animal and plant life.
"The Beringian steppe was home of a wide range of herbivores and carnivores. Most symbolic of Beringia is the woolly mammoth, predecessor of the modern Asiatic elephant. Standing three metres high at the shoulders ... these hairy, humped-backed giants roamed the steppe for thousands of years. They fed on the tundra's tough, dry grasses... The scimitar cat, endowed with serrated upper fangs, was a lethal killing machine. Built for speed and agility, this feline specialized in ambushing its prey."
In other words: The woolly mammoth is supposed to have lived in NW Siberia, Alaska and the Yukon during the height of the Last Glaciation, when sea level was as much as 125 meters lower than now. This elephant is supposed to have grazed there on "grassy tundra", "steppe", "tundra". Could they have grown enough food during the height of the Last Glaciation, to support an elephant? And could they have supported large enough herds of hoofed animals, to feed the scimitar cat, as large as a lion? Comment: The woolly mammoth is not the predecessor of the modern Asiatic elephant. Because the modern Asiatic elephant is just as old as the woolly mammoth.
Alan Turner and Mauricio Antón have in their Book The Big Cats (1997) Plate 10, a nice painting of the lion-sized scimitar cat Homotherium serum with a Dall sheep ram, it has just killed. Much of the ground is bare. There are only a few dry, brown grasses, 5-10 cm tall. This dead grass is covering perhaps10-20 percent of the ground. The rest is bare. The text beneath it says: "A wide selection of prey species was available to Homotherium serum in the mammoth-steppe environment of Alaska during the upper Pleistocene. It may therefore have been advantageous for this cat to have a whitish coat, thus rendering it less conspicuous in snowy conditions."
North American Saber-tooth cat Homotherium serum in Yukon-Alaska, with a Dall sheep ram. This cat was about as large as a lion. From A. Turner and M. Antón, The Bib Cats (1996) Plate 10.
C. R. Harington says in his Animals of Beringia (1996) about the American Scimitar Cat Homotherium serum: "It was slender-limbed (with relatively long forelimbs and short, powerful hindlimbs) and short-tailed, with upper fangs like curving steak-knifes. Although much rarer than the sabretooth cat (Smilodon fatalis) and the American lion (Panthera leo atrox), it seems to have been the only member of the Homotheriini (scimitar cats ...) and Smilodontini (related sabretooth cats including ... Smilodon) to have lived in Eastern Beringia (unglaciated Alaska, Yukon and adjacent Northwest Territories).
"The scimitar cat, although much rarer than the sabretooth cat, ranged broadly throughout North America (Yukon, Idaho, California, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Tennessee and Florida). It is difficult for me to forget the cool, cloudy afternoon of July 28, 1968 when we collected a right mandible with shearing cheek teeth of this species on the banks of the Old Crow River in the northern Yukon. It was the first known record for the Yukon, Canada and Eastern Beringia.”
North American saber-tooth cats (Homotherium serum) killing a young mammoth calf, between two to four years of age, when it strayed away from the herd. Its mother is trying to chase the cats away and to save the life of her child. From A. Turner and M. Antón, The Big Cats (1996:166) Fig. 5.12.
"The scimitar cat is about the size of a lion, but lighter in body. It had large slender upper canine teeth ('fangs' or 'scimitars') with serrated edges like steak knives. Lack of wear on front and back edges of the scimitars show that H. serum used these to slash through flesh and skin, rather than for feeding. ... Among living cats, only the tiger (Panthera tigris) has such large incisors, which aid in lifting and carrying prey. ... Its stance at rest may have been slightly hyena-like with sloping hindquarters. Perhaps the top speed of the scimitar cat would have been greater than a bear and approaching a lion about 60 km/hour. According to relationships between thigh bone (femur) measurements and body weights of large carnivores, H. serum may have weighed about 230 kg in the lion range. ...
"At Friesenhahn Cave, Texas, remains of 13 cubs and 20 adults were collected. ...Of great interest, because it sheds light on Homotherium prey, is that remains of between 300 and 400 juvenile mammoths were found in the cave. The majority were 2-year olds (a time when modern elephant calves begin to play and separate from the maternal herd): probably such calves became easy prey for scimitar cats. Indeed, the worldwide association of various species of Homotherium with proboscidians (elephants and mastodons) and rhino remains, mainly those of juveniles, reinforces the idea that Homotherium preyed selectively on these tough-skinned animals. It has lived there in a grassy parkland. The American scimitar cat survived toward the end of the last glaciation at Friesenhahn Cave, Texas". - C. R. Harington (1996).
A group of Smilodon fatalis (saber-tooth cats, about as large as a lion), in the western United States of America, hunting a bison. The depicted bison is a Bison antiquus. In the Rancho La Brea deposits it was the most common plant-eater and seems to have been a common prey of Smilodon. From A. Turner and M. Antón, The Big Cats (1996) Plate 12. Like this, the plant-cover has been, on which the woolly mammoth, the lion, the tiger, and the saber-tooth cat have lived in North America, Europe, and Northern Asia. On an arctic tundra or steppe-tundra they could not have lived. They would have starved there to death.
We found out: The male American scimitar cat Homotherium serum weighed about 230 kg. The American male lion Panthera leo atrox weighed 235 kg, the female 175 kg. So they weighed about the same. They were both much heavier than the living African lion. The living African male lion weighs about 170 kg, the female 120 kg. In the following model, the residential male is taking one third of his food from her home range. Size of home range 18 km².
American Scimitar Cat
The adult male American scimitar cat Homotherium serum weighed 230 kg. The adult male American lion Panthera leo atrox weighed 235 kg. The female 175 kg. Thus, the adult female American scimitar cat must have weighed about as much as the adult female American lioness: 175 kg. The scimitar cat family needed just as much food as the American lion. Also when raising its cubs. In this model the residential male is taking 1/3 of his food from the home range of this female. Size of home range: 18 km².
American Scimitar Cat with 2 cubs in their first year of life. The whole American Scimitar cat family
American Scimitar Cat with 2 cubs in their first year of life. The whole American Scimitar cat family must kill then at least 7,268 kg hoofed animal prey biomass. That is a lean season biomass of 4,486 kg/km².
American Scimitar Cat with 2 cubs in their second year of life. The whole American scimitar cat family during the time of the woolly mammoth, must kill at least 12,664 kg hoofed animals per year. That is a lean season biomass of 7,817 kg/km² on their 18 km² home range. Any surplus of prey during the rest of the year is irrelevant.
A North American female saber-tooth cat (Smilodon) with her cubs. From A. Turner and M. Antón, The Big Cats (1997) Fig. 5.9.
Ungulate biomass in northern hemisphere today
The Canadian Professors of Biology R. J. Hudson and F. L. Bunnel (1980) Table 11.2, have found out, how much ungulate biomass the different ecosystems of northern North America and northern Eurasia are able to support. They also show us, how much the ungulate biomass increases there per year. This is important, because the lion, or any other large predator, can harvest only as much, as the herds of hoofed animals do increase in one year. If the predator took more, it would soon starve to death.
· The open boreal woodland (taiga) in the northern hemisphere (in northern Europe, Siberia, Alaska, and northern Canada), where caribou/reindeer and moose/European elk are living, has a large ungulate biomass of 200-500 kg/km², or an average 350 kg/km². The ungulate biomass increases by 100 kg/km² a year.
· The forest-tundra, with its caribou/reindeer, has a ungulate biomass of 50-200 kg/km², or an average 125 kg/km². Ungulate biomass increase per year, 10 kg/km².
· The arctic tundra (Barren Grounds), with its caribou and musk-oxen, has a ungulate biomass of only 18-26 kg/km², or an average 22 kg/km². Ungulate biomass increase per year, 2 kg/km².
· The polar desert, with its musk-oxen and Peary caribou, has an ungulate biomass of only 0.0-10 kg/km², or an average 5 kg/km². Ungulate biomass increase a year, 0.0-0.5 kg/km².
The cave lion of northern Siberia, the American lion, and American scimitar cat were not able to live in Yukon/Alaska during the Last Glaciation. They would have starved up there to death within a few weeks, if not days. The assumed adaptation of the cave lion, American lion, and American scimitar cat to an arctic climate is not science, only science fiction. One should give it up now and look for a better explanation.
Equivalent Latitude: Yukon/Alaska
In central Alaska and the Yukon Territory, azonal dry steppe is growing now only in a few warm basins and on well-drained south-facing slopes. Arctic tundra, forest-tundra and taiga (boreal forest) cover the rest of the country. I myself have lived in the Yukon Territory for 8 years. So I do know this from personal experience. Several thousand years ago, the climate and plant-cover up there were completely different. Central and northern Alaska and the Yukon were covered then by zonal steppe and forest-steppe, on a savanna-type of grassland, with large patches of trees and shrubs.
And on this zonal steppe and forest-steppe, large herds of hoofed animals were grazing, similar to the game herds, roaming now across East Africa’s savannas. Large herds of horses, steppe bison and woolly mammoth were found then "everywhere". They are grazing in the valleys, on the slopes and on the ridges. They were wandering then up to the shores of the Arctic Sea. They were not confined then at all to a few isolated suitable spots, like the feral horse and the introduced bison, living now in central Alaska and the southern Yukon. (Guthrie, R. D. 1990:200-204, 263).
Why is that? Why has a zonal steppe or forest-steppe been able to grow then in Alaska and the Yukon also on the flat ground? Why is it not growing there now? When would it be able to grow up there again? What would have to change? When would the azonal steppe, covering now only some of the well-drained south-facing slopes and dry basins, change into a zonal steppe, covering most of Alaska and the Yukon? When would this azonal steppe, growing now on some well-drained south-facing slopes, be able to grow also on flat ground as zonal steppe, covering most of the land? – It has to do with the climate. The following findings will help us, to find the answer.
Roger G. Barry is Professor of Geography and Director, WDC-A Glaciology/National Snow and Ice Data Center, at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He states in the book Paleoecology of Beringia (1982:202): "More important to steppe-tundra is Young’s (1976) suggestion regarding the importance of a mosaic of topoclimates. Observational evidence in central Alaska at the present day shows rather small differences in air temperature from north-facing to south-facing slopes, but major contrasts in potential radiation and temperature at the ground surface. Potential radiation estimates on north-facing slopes of about 12° at 65°N in the Yukon-Tanana uplands have an ‘equivalent latitude’ of 80°N, whereas on corresponding south-facing slopes, the equivalent latitude is 50°N (Slaughter and Long, 1975). Surface temperature differences of 4°-7°C were observed in summer 1970 and the mean daily range of surface temperature in June 1971 was 20.6°C on the south-facing slope compared with only 12.1°C on the north-facing slope."
This means: Azonal steppe, growing now only on well-drained south-facing slopes in central Alaska, at 65°N in the Yukon-Tanana uplands, would only be able to change into a zonal steppe, covering also the flat ground, if the warmest month of the year had a mean air temperature of 20.6°C. Zonal steppe would grow there only, if it were just as warm up there, as it is now at 50°N. – That is some 1,660 km further south in latitude!
At or close to 50°N in central Asia, near Karaganda, in Kazakhstan, zonal dry steppe is growing now. North of the Caspian and Black Sea, and south of Lake Baikal – also near 50°N -, zonal steppe is growing now. And in North America, near Medicine Hat, southern Alberta, SW Canada, close to 50°N, also zonal steppe (grassland) is found
This proves to me: The zonal Mammoth Steppe was only able to grow in the Far North – near 65°N -, when the climate up there was just as warm, as it is now at 50°N, some 1,660 km further south! There is no way around this. This clearly disproves the idea that "periglacial steppe-tundra" was growing near the shores of the Arctic Sea in a severe arctic climate, as we find it now in northeastern Siberia. Even if it were able to grow there: It could not be able to feed an elephant, not to mention whole herds of elephants.
How calculated
How warm would it have had to be in summer in central and northern Alaska, so that zonal steppe would also be able to grow there on the flat ground, and not only on a few well-drained south-facing slopes, like today? And where do we find now such a climate? How much further south? - We may calculate the former July temperature of central Alaska at the time, when the woolly mammoth was grazing up there, like this:
· The Fairbanks area has now a mean July air temperature of about 17°C (Guthrie, 1982:209). Central Alaska has now a mean July air temperature of 15°C (Bryson and Hare, 1974).
· The Yukon-Tanana uplands, north of Fairbanks, near 65°N, in June 1971, had a mean ground-surface temperature of 20.6°C on the south-facing slopes, and 12.1°C on the north-facing slopes (R. G. Barry, 1982:202).
· The flat ground, north of Fairbanks, would have then a mean June ground-surface temperature of 16.35°C (the average of 20.6°C and 12.1°C).
· Ratio of 20.6° : 16.35° = 1.259938838. I am using now the June value for July, since the ground is warming up there just as soon, or even sooner than in July.
· The Yukon-Tanana uplands, near 66°N, should have now a July temperature of about 16°C.
· 16°C x 1.259938838 = 20.6°C.
This means: When the woolly mammoth was living in central Alaska, on a zonal steppe and forest-steppe, growing also on the flat ground, the mean July air temperature had to be then 20.6°C. – At which latitude is this July isotherm of 20.6°C running now? How much further south? - In southwestern Canada, east of the Rocky Mountains, the 20.6°C July isotherm is running now at 48-49°N, at the Canadian-American border. That is some 1,900 km further south in latitude. In Eurasia, on the Russian Plain, we do find the 20.6°C July isotherm now at 50-53°N. That is some 1,600 km further south in latitude. In Central Siberia, the 20.6°C July isotherm lies now at 50°N, some 1,700 km further south. And in East Siberia, the 20.6°C July isotherm lies near 47°N. That is some 2,000 km further south in latitude.
In all of these areas, with their mean July air temperature of 20.6°C, at 48-53°N, there is no permafrost and no arctic tundra. But zonal steppe or forest-steppe is growing there. This proves to me that zonal steppe has only been able to grow in central and northern Alaska, when the mean July air temperature up there has been 20.6°C.
This means: When the woolly mammoth was grazing in the Far North, the climate up there has been just as mild and temperate, as it is now in the zonal steppe of North America and southern Siberia, near 48-53°N. There has been then no permafrost and now arctic winter in Alaska, no arctic tundra, nor any other type of arctic plant-cover. The arctic tundra, forest-tundra and taiga (boreal forest) of North America and northern Eurasia have not existed then. They have come into being much later: in the Holocene Period.
Result
The official paleontological community now teaches: The woolly mammoth and its companions have lived in northern Siberia and Alaska in a severe arctic climate. The woolly mammoth has lived in the Far North, hundreds of miles above the Arctic Circle, also during the peak of the Last Ice Age. They have lived up there in ice and snow, just like the reindeer and the musk-ox of today. They were adapted to an arctic climate, they say. This elephant was grazing up there on an arctic plant-cover. One calls it arctic tundra, tundra-steppe, periglacial loess steppe, and mammoth steppe. And this arctic plant-cover was able to feed the herds of woolly mammoths in summer and in winter, throughout the year. And during the long arctic winter, when lakes, ponds, and rivers were deeply frozen, the mammoth ate ice and snow, to get enough drinking water, they say.
Also the cave lion in Eurasia, and the American lion and American scimitar cat were able to live in the Far North in an arctic climate. They have lived up there even during the peak of the Last Glaciation, because the arctic tundra-steppe was able to feed large herds of hoofed animals, they say.
The assumed adaptation of the woolly mammoth to arctic cold is not science, only science fiction. It has nothing to do with serious scientific research. It is only a pious myth. They do not even have one thread of valid scientific evidence, to prove their assertion. Even if the grass in the Far North grew one to two meters high in an arctic climate, the woolly mammoth would still starve up there to death, with a full stomach. Because during the long arctic winter, this food contains too little protein. It is too high in fiber and too low in protein. The woolly mammoth is not able to live in an arctic climate, because there is too little to eat. It would starve to death up there in winter within a few weeks or months, with a full stomach. The woolly mammoth is not able to get enough drinking water in winter, by eating ice and snow. It would thirst then to death within about two weeks.
The cave lion of Eurasia and the American lion and American scimitar cat were not able to live in the Far North in an arctic climate, not to mention during the peak of the Last Ice Age. They would have pitifully starved up there to death within a few days or weeks. Because on the arctic plant-cover, the hoofed-mammal biomass is too low. They could not have raised any cubs in an arctic climate, because also their cubs would soon have starved to death.
The largest cat, which is able, to live as a resident in an arctic climate, and to raise there its cubs, is the lynx. The body weight of the Canadian lynx in Alaska averages only 5-16 kg. The average adult Eurasian male lynx averages 19.6 kg, the female 17.3 kg. It ranges from western Europe to eastern Siberia. In North Siberia, the Eurasian lynx is much smaller and lighter, than further south.
The larger and heavier cats are not able to live in the Far North in an arctic climate. The leopard (Panthera pardus), the Snow leopard (Panthera uncia), the American puma or mountain lion (Felis concolor) are not able to live in an arctic climate. The puma has moved at times from northern British Columbia, W Canada into Alaska. Pumas have also moved at times into the Mackenzie River region, Canada's Northwest Territories. But they have stayed there only as nomads, and not as residents raising cubs. Nor can one compare these areas with the arctic tundra-steppe, without any trees, on which the mammoth fauna is supposed to have lived during the peak of the Last Ice Age!
And there is still the tiger Panthera tigris. Especially the Amur tiger, in Russia's Far East. Sometimes nomadic tigers have moved from China or Korea into southern Siberia (Transbaikal, middle course of Lena River). But up there, they do not become residents. And they do not raise up there any cubs. Also not, when they are living there for many years (V. G. Heptner et al. 1980:105, 111). The reason: the hoofed-mammal prey biomass is too low. And southern Siberia is certainly not arctic tundra! - About the assumed adaptation of the mammoth fauna to arctic cold one may also say now: You have been weighed on the scales, and been found wanting.
The woolly mammoth was adapted to a mild temperate climate, without an arctic winter, without ice and snow. Only there, enough fodder could have grown. And only there, it would have found enough to drink also in winter. The plant-cover, on which the mammoth and its companions were grazing, was made up of different parts: There was zonal dry steppe or short grassland. Because the saiga antelope, the Asian wild ass (Hemionous), and the camel needed it. There also had to be much meadow-steppe or tall grassland. And there had to be also much forest-meadow. That is tall grassland with patches of trees and shrubs. The mammoth fauna of the Far North was like the large mammal fauna of East Africa. Herds of hoofed animals were moving there across a vast savanna-like grassland, covered with patches of trees and shrubs. The growing season of the plants was then much longer than now: 8-9 months long, instead of only 1-4 months, like today. And there was then no arctic winter, with ice and snow, like today.
After decades of research, I do conclude now: The woolly mammoth and its companions have lived - until about 4,000 years ago - in northern Siberia, Alaska, and Canada's Yukon Territory and Northwest Territories. They have lived there up to the shores of the Arctic Sea, and on the then exposed continental shelf, in a mild, temperate climate, without an arctic winter, without ice and snow.
The woolly mammoth, preserved in the flesh in the frozen ground of northern Siberia and Alaska, has perished in a sudden catastrophe, in the global Flood of Noah's days, in the year 2370 BCE, according to Bible chronology. About this global Flood we read in the Bible, the inspired Word of the true God, whose name is Jehovah, in Genesis, chapters 6-9. It contains an eyewitness-account of this global Flood.
· The woolly mammoth, the woolly rhinoceros, and the cave lion, and their companions have lived in the Far North in a temperate climate before the Flood of Noah's days.
· The animals, whose bodies are preserved in the flesh in the frozen ground, have perished in the Flood of Noah's days in the year 2370 BCE.
· And their bodies were covered over, and were buried by the Flood of Noah's days.
· Only this global Flood does fit with all the scientific facts, with all the experimental and observational evidence, which one knows today.