The eyes of the marsupial saber-toothed tiger on the sides of its skull did not hinder its prey. This has been reported by the American Museum of Natural History.
In predators and herbivores, and in birds, the eyes are usually located differently. Herbivores have eyes on the sides of their skulls to maximize their field of view – cows and pigeons are prime examples of this. Predators, on the other hand, need to accurately estimate the distance to their prey while hunting, which requires binocular vision. In this respect, the eyes of predatory animals such as cats and owls are in the foreground.
The prominent predator, the marsupial saber-toothed tiger, was an exception to this rule. His eyes were located on the sides of his head, as the “normal” place under his eye sockets was filled with giant teeth. “Not only were they big, they were constantly growing to the point where the roots of the teeth extended all the way to the top of their skulls. This had consequences, one of which was the lack of room for the pupils in front of the muzzle,” explains Charlene Gaillard, one of the study’s authors.
The researchers created a 3D model of the skull using computed tomography. In addition, this model was compared to the head structure of other extinct and modern mammals. Although some modern carnivores have wide eyes, this saber-toothed tiger was extreme. With the standard arrangement of the eyes, the field of view could only overlap 35 degrees, compared to a cat’s 65 degrees.
But this problem can be compensated by a non-standard arrangement of the eyes. According to scientists, if a saber-toothed tiger’s eyes protrude from its eye sockets (the tiger’s “eyes”), then the animal can then overlap about 70 percent of its visual fields – apparently enough to make it a successful active predator.
In the future, scientists hope to find out why the marsupial saber-toothed tiger has such huge teeth that are disproportionately large relative to its skull.