Customer Reviews

Sabertooth

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This 32-page picture book is one of the best paleontology books for young children that I've ever seen.

Author/illustrator Patrick O'Brien hits all the right marks:

* Putting sabertooths in phylogenetic context by surveying the living cats

* Comparing the anatomical adaptations of sabertooths to other big cats

* Comparing life-size pictures of sabertooth-, living tiger-, and human canines

* Discussing how sabertooths killed their prey

* Showing a reconstruction of the family tree of sabertooths

* Putting sabertooths in ecological context as predators by offering galleries of (1) the creatures they probably hunted (e.g., mammoths, giant capybaras, humans) and (2) the creatures they probably competed with (e.g., bear-dogs, cave lions, humans, the 7-foot tall carnivorous bird known as Diatryma)


If it stopped there, Sabertooth would be an outstanding book. But O'Brien goes even farther. He invites kids to think about the missing pieces of the puzzle, noting that we don't know what color the cats' coats were. In a wonderful two-page sequence, O'Brien considers several alternative patterns (based on the coats of living cats).

O'Brien even touches on parallel evolution, noting that other (now extinct) mammals have evolved cat-like traits and saber-shaped teeth. He describes how sabertooth fossils have been preserved, and puts in a plug for protecting the big cats that are still alive today.

In short, this is a terrifically well-conceived book and a model of how paleontology should be presented to kids. It's the sort of book that inspires kids to ask questions and get involved in the study of evolutionary biology. I highly recommend it.

- Parenting Science

Have you ever been to a zoo or a circus and seen one of more different "big cats?" Lions, tigers, cheetahs, cougars, jaguars and even your little kitty cat are related to a cat that made these animals seem like mice in comparison. The original cat lived about 30 million years ago and about "20 million years ago the tree split into two kinds of cats." This ferocious beast who lived 10,000 to millions of years ago was called the sabertooth. The saber-tooth we know most about was called the Smilodon.

One amazing fact it that many of the Smilodon remains scientists have discovered and learned the most from actually come from "what is now downtown Los Angeles." Hundreds of unfortunate animals, including Smilodons, got stuck in tar pits and perished. In this book you'll be able to look at many illustrations that depict what scientists thought these cats may have looked like, how they hunted, what their prey may have been, what other predators they had to compete with, what may have been their favorite meal and why they may have become extinct. Did you know that the saber-toothed cats had canines almost a foot long?

The vibrant cover illustration is a surefire draw to this book and once opened the reader is not disappointed. The very informative text and the exiting illustrations mesh perfectly to encourage the young reader to keep on reading. Even the reluctant reader will find this book to be a page turner. If you have a youngster who is interested in dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals I'm sure they'll love strolling through these pages as well!

My nephew loves anything about Saber Tooth Tigers, so I was happy to get him this book...