Cool Cat: Nashville Predators' Namesake Skull Will Move To Bridgestone Arena

NASHVILLE, TN — The prehistoric skull which inspired the name and logo of the Nashville Predators will move from its long-time home to a display at Bridgestone Arena, The Tennessean reports.

In 1971 during the excavation for what was originally the First American Center — now the UBS Tower — at Fourth Avenue and Union, workers came across a cave, largely filled in by decades of construction and in that cave? A skeleton of a Smilodon — better known as a saber-tooth cat. It was eventually determined to be one of the latest members of its species to be in the southeast, according to the newspaper.

Archaeologists also found remains from mastodon, a horse, a bison and peccary, a swine which now lives wild in Central America and parts of the American Southwest. Those creatures may well have been prey dragged back to the cave by the fearsome long-tooth feline. Human remains, in rock-lined crypts and likely from the much later Woodland Period, were found in the area above the cave, the paper reports.

The subject of much excitement and scientific scrutiny at the time of its discovery, there was renewed interest in the bones in 1997 after the National Hockey League awarded an expansion franchise to Nashville. The Predators name and logo would be inspired by the prehistoric beast found just blocks away.

For years, the bones were displayed in the lobby of the skyscraper, but now they'll be moved to Bridgestone Arena, according to The Tennessean, with an unveiling set for Tuesday night's game against Ottawa.