【英语时差8,16】害怕被剑齿虎咬

（单词翻译）

D:Hey,Yale.Would you rather be bitten by a saber-toothed tiger or a modern day tiger? Y:Neither,of course.But if I have to pick,I supposed I choose the modern tiger.Since the saber-toothed tiger massive fangs¹. D:Well,you may be surprised to learn that paleontologists now think that despite their huge, fearsome looking canine² teeth, the prehistoric³ American sabercat, Smilodon fatalis, had a bite force only about one-third as strong as modern big cats. Y:How can they told that from fossilized bones? D:They used very fine CT scans of the skull⁴, jaw⁵ and neck bones to create a highly detailed⁶ 3 D computer model. Then using careful analysis of the size and placement of muscle attachment⁷ points and mathematical modeling they were able to calculate the power of the jaw muscles and the bite force of the now extinct sabercats.This was the most detailed computer model ever created for a vertebrate. Y:Neat!So if they had such a wimpy⁸ bite, what’s with the huge fangs? D:The function of the sabercat’s eight inch teeth is one of the longest running debates in paleontology. The results of this study support the hypothesis that the sabercats brought down and subdued¹⁰ large prey¹¹, like mammoths, with their strong forelimbs.Once the prey was safely restrained on the ground, sabercats used their large fangs to pierce through the thick hide on the neck of their quarry¹².In contrast, modern day big cats use their more powerful jaws¹³ to bite the neck of their prey for an extended period to subdue⁹ them by asphyxiation¹⁴. Y:Yikes!I think I'll pass on being bitten by either a sabercat or a modern day tiger. D:Wise choice.