California's state fossil are familiar to anyone who has ever visited Los Angeles' La Brea Tar Pits, a sticky trap from which more than 2,000 saber-toothed cat skulls have been excavated over more than a century.
Fossils from La Brea Tar Pits in Southern California suggest that sabertooth cats and other large North American mammals disappeared as a result of wildfires spurred by human activity.
Another two species of saber-toothed cats have been discovered, thanks to the fossils found in South Africa. Read more here to learn about these species.