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The saber-toothed tiger(Smilodon fatalis) was the threat animal of the 2002 natural horror film Sabretooth. It was a prehistoric cat, cloned by Dr. Catherine Viciy.
Background[]
The saber-toothed tiger originally lived about 10,000 years ago, becoming frozen alive in ice, and, in modern times, being discovered by Dr. Catherine Viciy and her team, including Kara Harmon, and Bofadeese Knotts with its preserved DNA. Afterwards, it was grown to full size in six months by use of an accelerated cellular growth hormone.
Sabretooth[]
The saber-toothed tiger made its debut in the film at the science lab where it was cloned, where it attacked and killed the janitor when he drew its attention. Later, by its creator's order, the saber-toothed tiger was loaded into a truck and put under transfer to Anthony Bricklin's house. However, the driver fell asleep at the wheel and when the truck crashed, the cat was freed and killed the driver, before taking to the mountains in Sierra Nevada. It later went on to kill a couple of vacationing couple, taking the woman by surprise and critically hurting her, before catching site of the man, busting through the door of the cabin, and killing and devouring most of his body. Viciy, his creator, and Bricklin discovered he had escaped, and hired Robert Thatcher, a professional big-game hunter and tracker, to help them capture him. It later began to stalk both their group, killing and devouring Kara Harmon, a zoologist who helped Viciy to find and clone the saber-tooth, before later going to stalk a group of campers in the area after an encounter with Lola Rodriguez, one of their members. Thatcher continued to track it, eventually discovering the signs where its tracks and those of campers began to correspond with those of the campers. The saber-tooth later killed and devoured Jason, one of the campers, when he ventured into the woods to answer the call of nature, first terrifying him with a roar, and then biting down on his head when he fell and picked up his glasses. The next day, while his comrades were looking for him, he began stalking Rodriguez and one of the senior guides, Trent Parks, carrying off the former after overpowering the latter, and killing her. By this time Thatcher had found the campers, and pursued the saber-tooth after Parks informed him of it and Rodriguez's death. When the hunter found him, the cat was nearly killed, luckily being saved when Viciy missed it with a sleep dart and scared it off. However, it quickly returned and knocked over Thatcher, disarming him of his rifle, which Bricklin then picked up and ran with. The saber-tooth chased after him and attacked him after he got his foot caught in an unmarked bear trap, gouging out his eyes before killing him, allowing Thatcher and Viciy to flee.
After devouring most of Bricklin, the saber-tooth continued to track Ballenger and his campers with its sense of smell, finding them at an old mine nearby where Thatcher had sent them. There, it was confront by Leon Tingle, one of the campers, who engaged it in a fight with two bowie knives, allowing his friends to escape and hide, before the saber-tooth easily killed him by stabbing his chest with its claws. Following Parks and Ballenger inside, it cornered the former in between two rocks which separated them, the cat slashing at him with its claws and scratching him several times. However, Thatcher quickly arrived and helped Ballenger to get some tranquilizer into the beast, allowing Parks to escape before it woke up. When it came outm, the saber-tooth would have met its end by Thatcher's rifle if its creator hadn't unloaded it beforehand, and he was forced to flee. The saber-tooth later confronted all of them at the lake area, pouncing on Viciy and ripping out her stomach when she tried to warn it away. Confronting Thatcher and breaking his spear, before having its attention drawn by Ballenger. Thatcher then reversed this, having her toss the last spear to him and tricking the saber-tooth into jumping on it, deeply stabbing its stomach and throwing the prehistoric feline over the cliff, where it died after releasing a deep breath.
Physical Capabilities[]
As can be quoted in the film, the saber-toothed tiger was easily capable of ripping a human in half with its canines. It was also able to track others from as far off as a mile away with its sense of smell, similar to lions, who are the only big cats who use their sense of smell in hunting, albeit not very dominantly. As a prehistoric cat, the saber-tooth was faster and more powerful than any modern day feline.