The amazing deposits at Rancho La Brea portray a biased view of California's Ice Age fauna. The vast numbers of sabertooth cats, dire wolves, and other carnivores are impressive to see and have provided a bonanza of scientific studies over the years, but they give the impression that the Ice Age was overrun by predators. In fact, in most deposits herbivores are much more common and predators are scarce, just as in modern healthy ecosystems. Nevertheless, occasional carnivores do show up in these deposits. The early Pleistocene deposits in San Timoteo Canyon, near Redlands CA, are dominated by horses and rodents, with a smattering of deer, sloths, and camels. But among the 16,000 specimens from the site in the WSC collections, there are associated remains of two large carnivores, including a sabertooth cat.Above is a dorsal view of the 12th thoracic vertebra of Smilodon gracilis. S. gracilis is thought to be ancestral to the younger S. fatalis of Rancho La Brea, and was smaller and more lightly built than its better known and more famous descendant. Lateral and anterior views are shown below:
There are numerous S. gracilis bones from this site, which all appear to come from a single individual. Unfortunately, all the preserved elements are postcranial bones, with no cranial bones or teeth. Nevertheless, these represent significant remains of a relatively rare carnivore. We had several of these bones out this week for 3D scanning, and those scans will be made public sometime next year.