Researchers believe that a well-preserved skull of a sabertooth cat, one of the last of its kind to roam the earth as glaciers retreated and temperatures rose, was discovered in southwest Iowa.

According to Matthew Hil, an associate professor of archaeology at Iowa State and specialist in animal bones, radiocarbon dating reveals that the male cat perished at the end of the Ice Age between 13,605 and 13,460 years ago before being interred in the East Nishnabotna River.

David Easterla, an emeritus biology professor at Northwest Missouri State University, and Hill examined the specimen. Quaternary Science Reviews just released their research findings.

He continued, "The skull is a tremendously major deal. "Findings of this species are dispersed widely and typically consist of a single tooth or bone. This East Nishnabotna River skull is in very pristine condition. It's beautiful."

The skull provides proof that the animal was 2 to 3 years old and well over 500 pounds when it died. This shows that the sabertooth cat may have been larger than the majority of cats found in southern California, according to the university.

Hill and Easterla believe that southwest Iowa at this time resembled central Canada today in that it was a parkland with patches of trees scattered across grassland spaces.

The dire wolf, enormous short-faced bear, long-nosed peccary, flat-headed peccary, stag-moose, muskox, giant ground sloth, and possibly some bison and mammoth would have all coexisted with the cat, according to the expert.

A shattered canine on the skull may provide a hint as to how the sabertooth cat perished, according to researchers. Hill and Easterla suggest that the animal was fatally wounded by the prey, which resulted in a serious injury.

"These kinds of fossils can teach us a lot. They contain information on the ecology of the animals and how they react to a changing climate, as well as the advent of new predators and competitors, such as people "explained Hill.

Hill stated that he intends to use chemical markers in the fossil itself to discover more about the diets of animals in Iowa.

According to him, Iowa is an excellent place to conduct research on extinct Ice Period creatures and the people who were only beginning to coexist with them.