And in any event, whether the Smilodon lost its prey directly to climate change or to the lazy fire-hunting of big game by early man, in either event at those population densities, the American cats that were able to survive on smaller game had no trouble surviving all the way up to the present human-induced mass extinction.

I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.