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Coyote story

Kohen says: I think endangered means some animals are almost extinct. Hunters try to kill some animals. Rhinos are endangered animals.

I think endangered means some animals are almost extinct. Hunters try to kill some animals. Rhinos are endangered animals.

Kohen asks: I am studying the sabre tooth tiger and I want to know, why were the tusks there?

Sean Bell replies: First off, remember that the sabre tooth "tiger" isn't really a tiger, but a different form of cat. This is important, because the teeth of the different groups had an effect on the use.
In a word, the teeth were most likely used for killing. Unlike the cats of today that kill by puncturing the neck vertebrae (small cats with small prey) or suffocating by clamping over the muzzle (large cats with large prey), sabre tooth cats couldn't have done this--the big canines would have either gotten in the way or actually broken right off (there are a lot of fossils where this has happened anyway). Instead, the cats probably used the sabres to slash out the throats or bellies of their prey.
The big teeth may also have been used in social activities such as fighting for mates or territories, but there is no reason that a structure can’t have more than one purpose.
You should also keep in mind that sabre tooth "cats" aren't just one species, but dozens, in several different families of mammals, including marsupials (Thylacosmilus), the modern cat family, and a few extinct groups of carnivorous mammals, the arctocyonids (hoofed predators—see the picture of Andrewsarchus I put up), the creodonts (an extinct group of carnivores only somewhat related to modern carnivores) and the nimravids (cat-like animals with short tails. Of course, these descriptions are brief, and based on material that may be old now. But sabres show up a lot in mammal evolution.
I've mentioned it before, but again, I would highly recommend trying to get the book Big Cats and their Fossil Relatives. They go through all of the genera known at the time, and demonstrate how the big teeth may have worked (I would suggest reading that book with a parent or teacher).

Kohen says: I drew this eagle because I like it and it is endangered. They were endangered because people wanted their feathers.

Ms R-M replies: Eagle feathers are considered sacred to the Native Americans, and the eagle is proteced by the Alberta government, it is illegal for anyone to posses feathers who is not a Native American. The feathers are used in powerful healing ceremonies by some people. People wanting the eagles feathers are one clue to why the eagles numbers are decreasing. Can you think of ways that people have changed the environment which might impact how eagles can live? Ms. R-M

Kohen replies: Hi Ms. R.M. People have wrecked the eagles environment. This includes cutting down the trees where the babies live and this kills the babies. Also the adult eagles get killed and then the babies can't eat and they die too.