“Cousin” of the famous saber-toothed tiger is 35 thousand years old and was in Siberia, very well preserved.
The mummified remains of a scimitar cat, or juvenile saber-toothed cat (Homotherium hiding), were recovered from Arctic permafrost in Siberia, according to a study by the Russian Academy of Sciences in Scientific Reports this Thursday.
Found near the Badyarikha River in Yakutia, Russia, the specimen is extraordinarily well preserveddespite being more than 35 thousand years old. Subzero conditions kept the fur, head, limbs and torso of the extinct predator that ate baby mammoths intact.
Side view of the saber-toothed cat’s head.
This is the first time paleontologists have studied the species’ appearance in such detail. The juvenile cat, believed to have died just three weeks after birth, had not yet developed the genus’ iconic elongated canine teeth. Homotherium.
The researchers realized that the mummified kitten is very different from modern lion cubs of a similar age. It has a unique snout shapea large mouth opening, small ears, elongated forelimbs, a robust neck, and a dark coat — all adaptations well suited to surviving the harsh climates of the Ice Age.
The saber-toothed cat’s outer fur (left) and a CT scan of the specimen showing its bones (right).
O Homotheriuman extinct genus of saber-toothed cats, roamed Eurasia, Africa, and the Americas during the Ice Age. This particular specimen, H. latidensera native to Eurasia and persisted until about 10,000 years agonear the end of the last Ice Age. The genus also included species such as H. late in North America and the H. problematicum in Africa, according to .
Most fossils of Homotherium previously discovered ones were found in North America, which makes this Eurasian discovery a resource very rare.
Because Neanderthals and Denisovans are known to have inhabited Eurasia during the Ice Age, researchers speculate that preserved human ancestors may also one day be discovered in the icy landscape.
