Why did the saber-toothed tiger become extinct?

The saber-tooth tiger was essentially hunted so heavily by primitive human populations that it became extinct. The last saber-tooth tiger is thought to have become extinct around 10,000 years ago.

To call this mammal a tiger is a bit of a misnomer since it really was not a tiger but was rather a cat-like animal known as a machairodont. It was a muscular predator that leaped on prey, including giant sloths and woolly mammoths, from its post high in the trees. Once it attacked its prey, it dug into the neck of the prey with its huge teeth before slinking away to give its prey time to bleed to death and then returning for its meal.