Daily Dose of Prehistory Revival 33: Barbourofelis fricki

Barbourofelis fricki, meaning "Barbour's Cat", was a species of robust, predatory feliform carnivoran mammal belonging to the family Barbourofelidae (the false sabertooth cats) that lived in North America during the Miocene epoch about 13.6 to 5.3 million years ago. While it resembled machairodont cats like Smilodon and Xenosmilus, Barbourofelis was notably different in several areas: first off, it had a plantigrade walking stance much like bears, kangaroos, primates, and mustelids. Second, it was massively built, even compared to the musclebound true sabertooth cats, being built more like a bear than a true cat, standing 3 feet tall at the shoulder and weighing around 250-300 pounds. And third, like the unrelated sparassodont Thylacosmilus, had a pair of extended mental processes (or sheaths) that kept their massive saberteeth from becoming dull when not in use. Being only about as smart as a bobcat, it was likely outcompeted to extinction by machairodont cats.

That's some fricki stuff.