The extinct saber-toothed cat commonly found in the La Brea Tar Pits was Smilodon. The most frequently represented species there is Smilodon fatalis, often called the American saber-toothed cat.
Smilodon was not a close modern tiger, despite the popular nickname “saber-toothed tiger.” It belonged to the machairodont group of cats and had two dramatically elongated upper canine teeth. These teeth were useful for attacking prey, but their slender shape also made them vulnerable to breakage if used against bone.
La Brea has produced thousands of Smilodon fossils, including skulls, teeth, and nearly complete skeletons. The pits preserve evidence that these cats lived alongside mammoths, giant ground sloths, dire wolves, and ancient bison during the Pleistocene. Smilodon disappeared around the end of the last Ice Age, roughly 10,000 years ago. Panthera is a modern cat genus, while Homotherium and Thylacosmilus were different extinct predators.