"Why you should never arm wrestle a saber-toothed-tiger"

   
Apparently, their forearms are BUILT! Very interesting article citing evidence from saber-toothed tiger bones dug up at the La Brea Tar Pits (been there, what, 3 times? LOVE it).


Smilodon fatalis (!) is actually more correctly called the sabertoothed cat, so sayeth the Page Museum--a.k.a. the La Brea Tar Pits museum. The sabertoothed cat is  more closely related to a bobcat than a tiger or lion, and is built in such a way (powerfully) that they believe it was more of an ambush-and-pounce hunter vs. run-that-puppy-down hunter like lions and other cats.

http://museum.cwlwd.com/smilodon.html

Reading this article, I then suggest to the man on my right (previously referenced as "my bear") that perhaps he was a saber-toothed tiger* in a previous life, 'cause he's got serious forearms (as in a friend after meeting him asked if he was a climber--"He's got big forearms."). He shakes his head no (very talkative, that one).

Then I point to the t-shirt he happens to be wearing AS I'm reading this article.

It's a La Brea Tar Pits t-shirt, and there is an image of ONE creature on his chest: a saber-toothed tiger.


I rest my case.

biobabbler

*Continued to use "saber-toothed tiger" to relate above story as that is the term I used then. NOW I know it's sabertoothed cat. Here, kitty, kitty, kitty...