Black Machairodus

The Black Machairodus is a wildlife item and a predator animal. The black variant of the Machairodus species is the second variant encountered, and the second-rarest of the three.

Behavior
The Black Machairodus can be found in all biomes. It bears a sooty black coat with leopard like spots, however, the spots are barely noticeable unless you are very close to the beast.

Most Machairoduses are locally spawned and each type follows a specific pattern.
 * The Golden Machairodus will spawn but will not have a lair. They'll wander randomly.
 * The Black Machairodus will spawn with a territory centering around a lair usually identifiable by the presence of at least one pile of bones on the ground. They'll wander their territory periodically and sleep/rest at their lair.
 * The White Machairodus only spawns as a Stalker Cat with no lair.

Stalker Cat
After your first evolution leap, a Machairodus starts to stalk you. It is this behavior vs local Machiaroduses that gives it the unofficial name of the 'stalker cat'. This stalker cat can attack at any time - even inside an oasis. The stalker cat is randomly one of the three Machairodus varieties. However, once you reach the Canyon biome, the Black Machairodus is the most common stalker cat that spawns.

The stalker cat will spawn near your position at random times until it gets killed. A new stalker cat will respawn each time when you change a generation or complete an evolution leap.

It's unlikely but possible that a new stalker cat will spawn after the first one is killed in your current generation but it's unknown what triggers this respawn. This might be time-based and/or location-based so be on your guard after killing that first stalker cat in your current generation. It's unlikely you'll see another one in the same generation but be ready in any case if you are travelling long distances through many locations and/or a lot of game time has passed.

Only few locations are safe from this stalker cat:
 * The initial starting location of the Hidden Waterfall Oasis
 * Deep inside caves
 * Very high places or rock outcroppings off of the ground
 * Very low places or pits such as Deep Enclave Oasis or Butterfly Tree Oasis

Branch Barriers are most often ineffective to prevent against the stalker cat from coming after you but this barrier can be useful to trap/prevent the cat from escaping out of your settlement.

An excellent strategy to deal with the stalker cat is to trap it right away when it spawns near you, kill it, and then you no longer have to worry about it showing up later at an inopportune time.
 * Be sure to prepare enough SenseIcon SharpStick.pngened Sticks (or other weapons) in your settlement and locate them strategically within easy reach when the time for combat comes.
 * Build up branch barriers (or if possible) SenseIcon ThornbushWall.png Thornbush Walls to stop the stalker cat from escaping if you wound rather than kill it. When building the branch barriers, be aware that the stalker cat can jump over a single layer branch barrier but is mostly unable to get past a stacked double layered branch barrier. Build your defenses deep enough to stop the stalker cat from being able to run away.
 * Machairoduses that are fleeing are hard to catch as they run very fast except in the cases they are already wounded badly enough. The branch barriers will stop the cat from being able to run away and out of your reach. You can then corner the stalker cat and finish it off.

Combat
The Black Machairodus is a medium sized animal that ruthlessly hunts and kills efficiently. This predator is dangerous and will not give up a fight. Care should be taken if you decide to engage in combat with one of these animals. The Black Machairodus uses their medium size and fast attack speed to employ their razor-sharp claws and teeth to inflict  Bleeding. Being a medium sized animal, it isn't as easy to intimidate as other smaller animals but it is possible holding weapons or with a group of hominids.

If you are attacked by a Black Machairodus, and do nothing when prompted, you will eventually be torn apart and killed. The Black Machairodus will not give up until either you or the cat is dead.

If you do decide to attack, use the best weapons you can acquire. It is recommended to use Sharpened Sticks first, Sticks next, and as a last resort rocks or hard tools. The more damage you can do from a distance, the better. It will take multiple strikes to take down this large animal.

The Black Machairodus is the second rarest machairodus out of the three (Golden, Black, White) and has the second most health.

Carcass
The Black Machairodus Carcass provides  Mammal Meat and Hard Bone when it is butchered. The carcass can be butchered two times. To butcher a carcass more than once, all the items dropped from the previous butchering must be picked up.

Interactions With Other Animals
When different animals get in close proximity to each other, they can attack and kill each other. Animals can fight each other on their own or you can cause them to move nearer to each other to initiate combat. Some of these methods are intimidation to scare them towards another animal, have them chase you and you run past another animal, or perform a dodge and the animal runs towards another animal.

When animals fight each other, a cut-scene will play showing one animal attacking and killing the other. There are a large number of Evolution Feats that deal specifically with trying to cause animals to fight and kill each other.

The Black Machairodus is a formidable foe that can hold its own against most animals it interacts with.

Can Kill
The Black Machairodus can kill a large number of animals. The Astute Dominator of the Machairodus is the evolution feat that deals with the kills the machairodus can perform.
 * Made a Machairodus kill the Enemy Buffalo.png African Buffalo
 * Made a Machairodus kill the Enemy Croco.png Thorbjarnarson's Crocodile
 * Made a Machairodus kill the Enemy Gazelle.png Dorcas Gazelle
 * Made a Machairodus kill the Enemy SnakePoison.png Eastern Green Mamba
 * Made a Machairodus kill the Enemy SnakePoison.png Black Mamba
 * Made a Machairodus kill the Enemy Hyena.png Hyena
 * Made a Machairodus kill the Enemy Jackal.png Black-Backed Jackal
 * Made a Machairodus kill the Enemy Otter.png Miocene African Otter
 * Made a Machairodus kill the Enemy Snake.png African Rock Python
 * Made a Machairodus kill the Enemy Centipede.png Megarian Banded Centipede
 * Made a Machairodus kill the Enemy Warthog.png Giant Warthog
 * Made a Machairodus kill the Enemy Horse.png Miocene African Horse

Can Be Killed By
The Black Machairodus can be killed by a number of animals.
 * Made the Enemy Snake.png African Rock Python kill a Machairodus - Astute Dominator of the Rock Python
 * Made the Enemy Hippo.png Hippopotamus kill a Machairodus - Astute Dominator of the Hippopotamus
 * Made the Enemy Elephant.png Miocene Elephant kill a Machairodus - Astute Dominator of the Elephant
 * Made the Enemy Rhino.png Miocene White Rhinoceros kill a Machairodus - Astute Dominator of the Rhinoceros
 * Made the Enemy Croco.png Thorbjarnarson's Crocodile kill a Machairodus - Astute Dominator of the Crocodile

Trivia

 * In the game's opening cutscene, a Black Machairodus is seen stalking, pouncing, and killing a Enemy Croco.png Thorbjarnarson's Crocodile''.
 * The Black Machairodus is a member of a genus of large machairodontine saber-toothed cats that lived in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America from the late Miocene to the middle Pleistocene.
 * Unlike the hominids that evolve over time during the game, animals don't change over time. If it was possible to see the evolution of animals, Machairodus would evolve into Homotherium around the time of the Australopithecus Afarensis.
 * Homotherium only became extinct 12,000 years ago, already in the time of Homo sapiens.