Mummified saber-toothed kitten discovered in Siberia

Posted December 4, 2024

In 2020, prospectors hunting for ancient mammoth tusks in Siberia made a surprise discovery. The frozen clump of hair they noticed sticking out of a riverbank turned out to be a literal and figurative furball: a saber-toothed cat cub, desiccated and preserved in permafrost. Last month, scientists reported on their research on this first-of-its-kind specimen. The 37,000-year-old kitten mummy, complete with whiskers, fur, and claws, died when it was three weeks old. While the remains have not yet revealed how this individual cat died, they are providing insight into saber-toothed cats in general, including details that are hard to glean from bones alone. For example, the preserved kitten’s fur was dark brown, not spotted, as in many modern big cats, its neck was unusually thick and muscly, and its long upper lip might suggest that its famous canines would have been covered as an adult. Read on to learn more about the evolution of this charismatic group of mammals.

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