(Radio Iowa) – Researchers at Iowa State University say the recent discovery of a saber-tooth skull in southwest Iowa’s Page County is the first evidence the prehistoric predator once roamed the land we now call home. I-S-U archaeology professor Matthew Hill says the exceptionally rare find is in “exquisite” condition, especially since it’s more than 13-thousand years old.

Sabertooth skull. (ISU photo)

The young male cat would have weighed about 550 pounds, compared to the modern adult male African lion, which only weighs about 400 pounds. It would’ve been a very large and lethal animal that was built for both speed and stealth. Radiocarbon dating shows the cat died at the end of the Ice Age.

Mathew Hill. (ISU photo)

Hill, an expert on animal bones, says this creature may have been one of the last sabertooths to walk the earth as the glaciers receded and temperatures warmed.