The Life of Yesterday 



northward. The armadillo, peccary, ocelot, and 

 jaguar, together with a few birds, are the prin- 

 cipal relics of this time, although it left a more 

 lasting impress on southern Florida in the shape 

 of tropical vegetation. 



Beasts of prey were well represented by 

 the last of the saber-toothed cats — great ani- 

 mals almost the size of a lion, with wicked 



Skull of the great saber-toothed 

 Smilodon. 



looking, sharp -edged canines 

 far larger than those of any 

 modern carnivore. If these 

 cats preyed upon the ground sloths, as Pro- 

 fessor Cope suggested, the use of their enor- 

 mous canine teeth seems evident. The sloths 

 are covered with coarse hair implanted in a 

 thick hide, and some of the mylodons were 

 even protected by numerous small bones em- 



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