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Description
Predators in the Xenocene come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. From giant ursine mustelids to to flightless parrots. But one of the groups is definitely in a class all their own: the gladiadonts, a group of large, stocky rodents that take up the mantle left by the ferocious machairodontinae, the "saber toothed cats."
The largest of the group is Gladiadon, meaning "sword tooth."
Gladiadon roam the wilds of North America, in a ecological position that millions of years earlier would've been filled by Smilodon. Unlike Smilodon however, Gladiadon's teeth don't impede its ability to kill small prey but they largely prefer big game. Like Smilodon, Gladiadon kills its prey by wrestling it to the ground and lacerating its jugular. This killing method is considerably more energy efficient than holding the prey waiting for it to suffocate.
Gladiadon's killing teeth are its incisors and, as a rodent, it must wear them down to keep them from growing too big for its mouth. This causes the teeth to dull, but gladiadonts have evolved a solution to this. Like hippos gladiadonts' incisor teeth scrape against each other when their mouths close, causing the teeth to sharpen. As their teeth are constantly needing of shortening, they have to sharpen their teeth often. As such they've evolved a behavior called "grindstone chattering," a process of rapidly and repeatedly opening and closing their mouths.
Gladiadon has a hallux (dewclaw) that is long compared to other predators. This helps it hold onto prey when wrestling it.
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This is my take on Dinomaster337 's and the Xenocene Gladiodon. It's basically a rat that evolved a lifestyle and anatomy similar to saber tooth cats. I also added color. Hope you like it!

Description
Predators in the Xenocene come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. From giant ursine mustelids to to flightless parrots. But one of the groups is definitely in a class all their own: the gladiadonts, a group of large, stocky rodents that take up the mantle left by the ferocious machairodontinae, the "saber toothed cats."
The largest of the group is Gladiadon, meaning "sword tooth."
Gladiadon roam the wilds of North America, in a ecological position that millions of years earlier would've been filled by Smilodon. Unlike Smilodon however, Gladiadon's teeth don't impede its ability to kill small prey but they largely prefer big game. Like Smilodon, Gladiadon kills its prey by wrestling it to the ground and lacerating its jugular. This killing method is considerably more energy efficient than holding the prey waiting for it to suffocate.
Gladiadon's killing teeth are its incisors and, as a rodent, it must wear them down to keep them from growing too big for its mouth. This causes the teeth to dull, but gladiadonts have evolved a solution to this. Like hippos gladiadonts' incisor teeth scrape against each other when their mouths close, causing the teeth to sharpen. As their teeth are constantly needing of shortening, they have to sharpen their teeth often. As such they've evolved a behavior called "grindstone chattering," a process of rapidly and repeatedly opening and closing their mouths.
Gladiadon has a hallux (dewclaw) that is long compared to other predators. This helps it hold onto prey when wrestling it.
==========================================================================================================================================
This is my take on Dinomaster337 's and the Xenocene Gladiodon. It's basically a rat that evolved a lifestyle and anatomy similar to saber tooth cats. I also added color. Hope you like it!