Editing Smilodon (section)

===External features===
{{multiple image |align = right |direction = horizontal |total_width = 400
|image1 = Smilodon Knight.jpg
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|image2 = Smilodon fatalis.jpg 
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|footer = ''S. populator'' [[paleoart|restored]] with plain [[Coat (animal)|coat]] by [[Charles R. Knight]] in 1903 (left), and ''S. fatalis'' restored with spotted coat (right), both of which are considered possibilities
}}
''Smilodon'' and other saber-toothed cats have been reconstructed with both plain-colored [[Coat (animal)|coats]] and with spotted patterns (which appears to be the ancestral condition for [[feliforms]]), both of which are considered possible.{{Sfn|Antón|2013|pp=157–176}} Studies of modern cat species have found that species that live in the open tend to have uniform coats while those that live in more vegetated habitats have more markings, with some exceptions.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Allen |first1=W. L. |last2=Cuthill |first2=I. C. |last3=Scott-Samuel |first3=N. E. |last4=Baddeley |first4=R. |year=2010 |title=Why the leopard got its spots: relating pattern development to ecology in felids |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B |doi=10.1098/rspb.2010.1734 |pmid=20961899 |pmc=3061134 |volume=278 |issue=1710 |pages=1373–1380}}</ref> Some coat features, such as the manes of male lions or the stripes of the tiger, are too unusual to predict from fossils.{{Sfn|Antón|2013|pp=157–176}}

Traditionally, saber-toothed cats have been [[paleoart|artistically restored]] with external features similar to those of extant felids, by artists such as [[Charles R. Knight]] in collaboration with various paleontologists in the early 20th century.{{Sfn|Antón|2013|pp=157–176}} In 1969, paleontologist G.&nbsp;J. Miller instead proposed that ''Smilodon'' would have looked very different from a typical cat and similar to a [[bulldog]], with a lower lip line (to allow its mouth to open wide without tearing the facial tissues), a more retracted nose and lower-placed ears.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Miller |first=G. J. |year=1969 |title=A new hypothesis to explain the method of food ingestion used by ''Smilodon californicus'' Bovard |journal=Tebiwa |volume=12 |pages=9–19}}</ref> Paleoartist [[Mauricio Antón]] and coauthors disputed this in 1998 and maintained that the facial features of ''Smilodon'' were overall not very different from those of other cats. Antón noted that modern animals like the [[hippopotamus]] are able to open their mouths extremely wide without tearing tissue due to a folded [[orbicularis oris muscle]], and such a muscle arrangement exists in modern large felids.<ref name="Anton">{{cite journal |last1=Antón |first1=M. |last2=García-Perea |first2=R. |last3=Turner |first3=A. |year=1998 |title=Reconstructed facial appearance of the sabretoothed felid ''Smilodon'' |journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society |doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.1998.tb00582.x |volume=124 |issue=4 |pages=369–386|doi-access= }}</ref> Antón stated that [[extant phylogenetic bracketing]] (where the features of the closest extant relatives of a fossil taxon are used as reference) is the most reliable way of restoring the life-appearance of prehistoric animals, and the cat-like ''Smilodon'' restorations by Knight are therefore still accurate.{{Sfn|Antón|2013|pp=157–176}} A 2022 study by Antón and colleagues concluded that the upper canines of ''Smilodon'' would have been visible when the mouth was closed, while those of ''Homotherium'' would have not, after examining fossils and extant big cats.<ref name="Concealed">{{cite journal |last1=Antón |first1=Mauricio |last2=Siliceo |first2=Gema |last3=Pastor |first3=Juan F. |last4=Salesa |first4=Manuel J. |title=Concealed weapons: A revised reconstruction of the facial anatomy and life appearance of the sabre-toothed cat ''Homotherium latidens'' (Felidae, Machairodontinae) |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |date=2022 |volume=284 |pages=107471 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107471|bibcode=2022QSRv..28407471A |s2cid=248168629 |doi-access=free |hdl=10261/270770 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>