Sabertooth kitten Mummy found in the Arctic » Explorersweb

Scientists have discovered a mummified saber-toothed kitten in the Siberian permafrost. The cold, dry conditions perfectly preserved the three-week-old cub.

Photo: Lopatin et al., 2024

This 31,800-aged mother from the late Pleistocene era is incredibly rare – a world first, even.

“For the first time in the history of paleontology, the appearance of an extinct mammal that has no analogues in the modern fauna has been investigated,” wrote the authors of new study.

The saber-toothed kitten’s limbs, torso, head and fur are all intact. Parts of its pelvic bonesbones, femur and tibia was found in the ice around the body. Excited researchers could see for the first time what this extinct animals actually looked.

A. The frozen remains of the cub. B. A CT scan of its skeleton. Photo: Lopatin et al., 2024

The cub was too young to show the characteristic long upper canines of the adult saber-toothed cats. But like the adults, it already had a large premaxillary bone in the upper jaw that would have given room for the iconic giant fangs to form.

Arctic adaptations

The cub shows significant differences from contemporary lion cubs of the same age. It has one bigger mouth, smaller ears, a longer and thicker neck and much longer front legs. The baby the cat’s paws are also a lot bigger than the lion cubs and has no wrist pads on the wrist.

Many of these features show how good the species is customized to life in the harsh Arctic. Its thick fur and small ears would help prevent heat loss, while the bigger paws and lack of wrist pads would have helped it walk, lynx-like, through deep snow.

A, B and C show images of the frozen cub’s paw. D shows a lion cub’s paw for comparison. Photo: Lopatin et al., 2024

Besides analyzing animal’s appearance, the study also notes that range of the saber-toothed cat reached much longer than experts thought.

The species lived in Eurasia until the end of the last Ice Age, approximately 10,000 years ago. This is the first evidence that its range extended this far north.