Computed tomography reveals hip dysplasia in Smilodon : Implications for social behavior in an extinct Pleistocene predator

The individual examined in this study reached adulthood (at least four to seven years of age) but never could have hunted properly nor defended territory on its own. As such, this individual, and other critically pathologic like it, likely survived to adulthood by association with a social group that assisted it with feeding and protection. The pathologic specimens examined here in detail are consistent with a spectrum of social strategies in supported by a predominance of previous studies. This application of a relatively new and interdisciplinary technique to an old question therefore informs the longstanding debate between social and solitary hypotheses for the behavior of an extinct predator.