Drag to rotate the Smilodon, scroll or pinch to zoom, and click a body part - the head, a leg, or its sabre teeth - to read what fossils from the La Brea Tar Pits tell us about it. The panel beside the model carries the real figures.
Smilodon was an Ice Age mammal, not a dinosaur - turn on the human figure to see how its stocky, muscular body compared to a person, with two long canine teeth extending past its lower jaw.
The body shape here follows the fossil skeleton; thousands of specimens pulled from the La Brea Tar Pits give Smilodon an unusually deep fossil record among Ice Age predators, and the measurements in the panel are the ones actually published.
Smilodon (Sabre-tooth Cat) 3D Viewer
This page renders a Smilodon as a 3D model you can spin in the browser - drag to rotate, scroll or pinch to zoom, toggle a 1.8 m person beside it for scale, and click its head, a leg, or its sabre teeth for a fact. Smilodon was a mammal, not a dinosaur.
Smilodon fatalis stood roughly 1 m tall at the shoulder, about 2.5 m long, and weighed near 280 kg - close to a modern lion but more heavily built. Its upper canines grew up to about 28 cm long, the feature behind the sabre-tooth cat name; despite the popular nickname "sabre-tooth tiger," it was not closely related to tigers or any living big cat.
It lived across the Americas from about 2.5 million to roughly 10,000 years ago, well after the dinosaurs died out. First described in 1841 from a Brazilian fossil by Danish naturalist Peter Wilhelm Lund, thousands of skeletons pulled from the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles give it an unusually deep fossil record among Ice Age predators.
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Length | about 2.5 m |
| Shoulder height | about 1 m |
| Weight | about 280 kg |
| Canine teeth | up to about 28 cm long |
| When it lived | 2.5 million - 10,000 years ago (Pleistocene, Ice Age) |
| Diet | Carnivore |
Everything runs on your device with WebGL, so the model works without an account and without sending anything to a server. The body shape and fur color here are an artistic reconstruction, since fossils preserve bone but not soft tissue or color; the measurements above are the ones actually published.
Frequently Asked Questions
How big was Smilodon?
About 2.5 m long and 1 m tall at the shoulder, weighing near 280 kg - close to a modern lion but more heavily built. Turn on the human figure in the viewer to see the scale against a 1.8 m person.
How long were its sabre teeth?
Its upper canine teeth grew up to about 28 cm long. They likely delivered a precise killing bite rather than being used to fight through bone, since they were too thin to survive heavy impact.
Was Smilodon a tiger?
No. Despite the popular nickname "sabre-tooth tiger," Smilodon was not closely related to tigers or any living big cat - it belonged to its own extinct branch of the cat family.
Is the model scientifically accurate?
The proportions follow the fossil skeleton, but the fur color and pattern are an artistic reconstruction - fossils preserve bone, not soft tissue or color. The length, weight, and canine-length figures shown are real published values.
When and where did Smilodon live?
From about 2.5 million years ago until roughly 10,000 years ago, across the Americas. Thousands of skeletons have been recovered from the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles.
Do I need to install anything to view it?
No. The model renders in your browser with WebGL - no app, no account, and nothing about your visit is sent to a server. The 3D engine loads once and is then cached.