Dinofelis is a large cat that lived in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America approximately 5-1.5 million years ago. Its existence coincides in part with that of Machairodus, which lived 13-2 million years ago. Dinofelis is an ancestor of the prehistoric cat Homotherium.

Dinofelis is known as a "false sabertooth" cat because, instead of true saberteeth, it had what appears to be a cross between long, flat saberteeth and the cone-shaped teeth of the modern-day lion and other existing cats. Dinofelis fossils and bones have been found in South Africa along with those of the baboons it killed. The fact that Dinofelis attacked baboons leads scientists to believe that it probably also attacked the early humans with which it co-existed.