Could a pack of North American dire wolves take on a sabretooth cat?
The dire wolf: Five feet long and two hundred pounds of savage predator. The collectivist of the animal kingdom, it works together with its snarling pack of comrades to distract, exhaust, and ultimately overwhelm even the largest of prey.
Smilodon populator, the “sabretoothed cat”: Weighing in at a thousand pounds and standing five feet at the shoulder, this feline nightmare with its terrible foot-long fangs is the only species which ever dared challenge Man for top spot on the food chain. Hunting silent and solitary, it is the rugged individualist of the animal kingdom.
When the howling pack of slavering dire wolves encounters the killer kitty, which one do you think is likely to come out the bloodied and pelt-scarred victor — and which becomes tomorrow’s protein source?
Observing members:
0
Composing members:
0
8 Answers
Most likely neither, if both groups are healthy one or the other will back off and look for easier prey. Unless one or the other is protecting its young, there is no benefit in them fighting each other.
Don’t know much about how prehistoric animals acted…I’ll just assume. If the dire wolves worked like modern wolves, then they are extremely efficient together. Wolves are a lot more like ninjas then savages. Then again, I’m guessing the same could be said of the sabretoothed cat. There is no chance of a surprise attack on either side. Both the wolf and the cat are hunters, and would feel the presence of the other long before it could set up the element of surprise.
I think in the end, it would depend if the cat was fast and agile enough to avoid most of the wolf attacks, and get in its own every now and then. It can probably cause severe damage with one strike of its teeth, a lot more dangerous than what the wolves could do to him. The cat is also much bigger, so it might be able to sustain more damage than the wolves. Problem is, there is more than one wolf here, and the cat would be fucked if one of the wolves hit a vital area, like the neck, which is what I’m assuming they’d go for. Watch a wolf hunting video, they always seem to do that. So do hunting cats though…and with those big teeth, again, it wouldn’t be a problem for the cat to probably incapacitate one wolf easily.
Wolves are fast, but I’m guessing a hunting feline is much faster. This could be its advantage in either battle or escape.
It’s so hard to say. In reality, I think the cat would try to escape, and would probably succeed. Its terrain range is also much wider than the wolves, as the cat can climb. I’m not actually sure if this specific cat could climb though…but assuming it could. Sprint over rocks and shit with the greatest of ease, while the wolves might have to work at it…then the cat escapes.
But for the sake of the question. I think the wolves would win, because of their number. The cat may stand a chance if it’s in its prime or really lucky…either way though, after killing the cat, I think it would be safe to say that the number of wolves leaving after the assault would be smaller then when they came.
It’s funny how you mention this; and which becomes tomorrow’s protein source?
Wolves and big cats are still out there today. They usually don’t bother with one another. Likewise, they also have no known predators that go after them. So in this big epic fight, I wonder who won…
@Symbeline I came to the same conclusion you did: the fight goes the full 12 rounds, and the dire wolves take it in a decision. There are enough of them that they can afford to sustain some losses while tiring the smilodon until it’s slow enough to make that one mistake — and then it’s all over. I saw a video of grey wolves taking down a full-grown adult moose that way.
This whole topic came about because I was arguing with someone about the relative merits of cats and dogs. I’m a dog guy, and consider the collectivist canine all-for-one-and-ony-for-all attitude to be much superior to the snotty I-got-mine rugged feline individualism. I started to wonder which philosophy would come out on top when pitted directly against each other, as represented by the toughest and biggest and meanest versions of each of the respective gena.
Were the smilodons loners or did they work in prides like lions? Given the size of their prey, I think the smilodons may very well have been group hunters.
I agree a pack of wolves working in concert could eventually take down a smilodon, but what if there were 3–4 smilodons in the group?
@SmashTheState Interesting, about how you came up with that question. I agree with your dog part, but not so much the cat. In the wild, cats are usually lone creatures, but I don’t think the whole snobby ivory tower thing can be attributed to them. Felines and canines, two different sets of creatures, but both survivalists with their own ways. It sure makes an interesting question though, when you consider how different both are/act.
But yeah, I’m still with the dogs on that one, although I base this on as much logic as I can muster, and that follows in from what I know about these predators out in the wild, which is admittedly not much. I’d love to see that video of the wolves VS the moose. The moose isn’t a predator, but it isn’t something you wanna fuck with, either.
I think so. I cat would get some of the wolves, but the wolves would eventually win.
Answer this question 
Composing members:
0
