Between one million and 10,000 years ago, during the Pleistocene epoch, the Americas would have been the hunting grounds of two species of the saber-toothed cat genus Smilodon, Smilodon fatalis in North America and Smilodon populator in South America. Of the two species, S. populator would have been the larger, weighing between 500 and 900 lbs, making it one of the largest cats known to have prowled the earth. S. fatalis, on the other hand, would have been similar in dimensions to a modern lion, but more heavily built, with a mass between 350 and 620 lbs.
Although both species would have ranged far and wide and inhabited a variety of biomes in their respective continents, I wanted my depiction of the northern species to have a more “wintry” color scheme, with white spots on a gray base to blend into snowy environments. The southern species, on the other hand, would be more brown with dark spots to fit into the warmer environments of South America.