Research overview: canine eruption and growth in juvenile Smilodon

This overview reviews studies of how the famous sabre canines of Smilodon grew and erupted during an individual's life. Using La Brea specimens spanning juveniles to adults, and incremental growth lines preserved in the teeth, researchers have reconstructed the timing of milk-tooth replacement and the rate at which the permanent upper canines lengthened. Evidence suggests the adult sabres erupted relatively late and grew at a steady pace, with juveniles retaining functional milk canines alongside the emerging permanent ones for a transitional period. The survey discusses what this prolonged development implies about extended parental care and delayed independence in sabertooths, and how growth-line analysis links Smilodon ontogeny to broader questions of machairodont life history.