Wouldn't it make sense to assume that as the size of the population decreases, perhaps for external factors such as climate change, you are going to see more and more inbreeding?
I was always puzzled how these cats actually fed. These sabre toots seem to get in the way of feeding and chewing.
Another predator that went through a genetic choke point. Cheetahs did, too.[1] Cheetahs survived, but they are so similar genetically that they get the same illnesses, and skin grafts between unrelated cheetahs are not rejected.
[1] https://academic.oup.com/jhered/article/108/6/671/3836924
No worries, they'll evolve again. Like crab-form, it has happened multiple times: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saber-toothed_predator#Evoluti...
I think the study makes a giant presumptive leap to assume inbreeding was the cause of the higher-than-modern-human incidences of spinal tumors. It's irresponsible to assert this to be true instead of one of several possible explanations.