What would you do if you saw a saber-tooth tiger walking on the sidewalk right beside? Would you cower and run away in fear? Would you try to approach it? Well, it was just a regular day in Los Angeles when suddenly pedestrians noticed a huge saber-tooth tiger walking amongst them. However, things weren’t what they seemed.

20. Regular Day

It was just a regular day in Los Angeles and the city was bustling as usual. Pedestrians were walking around and cars were zooming by. No one expected anything out of the ordinary to occur.

19. Encounter

Everything was going about normally until pedestrians noticed the absolute weirdest thing. A prehistoric creature was walking amongst them! But, how could that be? Weren’t they all extinct?

18. Strange Happenings

Yes, that’s correct! A prehistoric creature was walking around on the street and pedestrians were in complete and total shock. The creature happened to be a saber-tooth tiger and it looked pretty intimidating.

17. Predator

A saber-tooth tiger is not the kind of animal that you’d want to mess around with. After all, it was a predatory animal that was characterized by its long, curved saber-shaped canine teeth. Its teeth were so big that they even stuck out once the animal’s mouth was closed.

16. Huge Teeth

The saber-tooth tiger’s teeth are pretty intimidating for a lot of different reasons. One of the biggest reasons is the fact that their canines were almost a foot long. However, the teeth weren’t as resilient as one would think!

15. Brittle Teeth

According to ThoughCo: “These monstrous teeth were surprisingly brittle and easily broken, and were often sheared off entirely during close combat, never to grow back again.” Seems like the most intimidating feature of this species was their least resilient part.

14. Extinct

Luckily for us all, this huge species vanished off the earth toward the end of the last Ice Age. So how exactly was one walking around in Los Angeles? Well, you’ll be shocked when you find out the answer.

13. Tricked

So what was the deal with the saber-tooth tiger that was hanging out on the streets of L.A.? Well, it turns out that it wasn’t a real saber-tooth tiger at all but actually an animatronic robot.

12. Made To Fool

The robot was designed to look exactly like a prehistoric saber-tooth tiger would have. Its head was moving, its eyes would blink, and it had a pretty ferocious stare. Many people were shocked by what they were seeing.

11. Handlers

The saber-tooth tiger wasn’t walking alone either. He was being escorted by two “handlers” that held the robot by a leash. So why did this huge saber-tooth tiger make an appearance out on the streets?

10. Promoting

It seems that the saber-tooth tiger was actually being used to promote the Ice Age Encounters exhibit at the LA Brea Tar Pits and Museum. The La Brea Tar Pits in downtown Los Angeles has recovered loads of saber-toothed tiger fossils.

9. Recovered

According to ThoughtCo: “Most dinosaurs and prehistoric animals are discovered in remote areas of the U.S., but not the Saber-Tooth Tiger, specimens of which have been recovered by the thousands from the La Brea Tar Pits in downtown Los Angeles.”

8. Ice Age Encounter

So what can you expect to experience at the Ice Age Encounter. Well according to the museum’s website, you can “experience a multimedia performance where we dig into the past to uncover the mysteries of some of the extinct creatures who roamed Ice Age Los Angeles over 10,000 years ago.”

7. Ice Cream Truck

As far as the robotic tiger goes, he stood around and posed for photos with random pedestrians. Many people got to indulge in Ice Age-themed treats from the CoolHaus ice cream truck as well. It was a load of fun for everyone.

6. Footage

The entire encounter was filmed by the museum and the footage was uploaded onto YouTube. The Internet went absolutely crazy over the experience and you won’t believe how many views the video has since gained!

5. Viral Video

The video has since received over 40 million views. People were arguing in the comments about whether the saber-tooth tiger was real or just a man in a costume. It seems that the museum did great job at fooling everyone!

4. Video Description

In the video description, the museum clearly explained the situation to anyone that may be confused. It says, “Our Saber-toothed cat took a stroll down to Wilshire Blvd. to announce that Ice Age Encounters will be at the La Brea Tar Pits every Wednesday and Saturday!”

3. Preserved

“Ice Age Encounters transports you to the Los Angeles of the Late Pleistocene. While on this journey, you’ll meet the extinct creatures that lived in pre-historic L.A., and witness the natural processes that preserved their remains for thousands of years.”

2. Fun Time

Even though the animal was only a robot, everyone on the streets of L.A. had a great time witnessing it. It was like jumping back into prehistoric times. The idea definitely attracted a huge crowd and the museum certainly got some pretty cool publicity.

1. Snapshot

There are now tons of people with photos of themselves next to a saber-tooth tiger! Believe it or not, it was actually a lot of kids that were the first brave ones to head over to the creature. This was definitely a cool experience for everyone involved.