Saber-Toothed Kitten Mummy Was Preserved in Permafrost for 35,000 Years

Scientists discovered a mummified saber-toothed kitten remarkably well preserved in Siberian permafrost for 35,000 years.

The mummified kitten was found in 2020 in the Badyarikha River in eastern Siberia with its whiskers and claws still attached. At the time, the prospectors were searching for mammoth tusks, the New York Times reported, but they soon discovered the mummy of a baby saber-toothed cat—which they brought to the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. 

The find was published in the journal Scientific Reports. According to the study authors, “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 studied.”

Researchers believe the kitten, which featured “short, thick, soft, dark brown fur” in its preserved state, was buried for at least 35,000 years. They also identified the cub as part of the Homotherium latidens species, an extinct genus.

“Many paleontologists working with felids, including myself, have been hoping for decades to see a frozen saber-tooth felid from the permafrost,” Manuel J. Salesa, a specialist in saber-toothed cats at the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in Madrid, told the New York Times. 

Though he was not one of the study’s authors, Salesa still labels the find as “one of the most exciting moments of my career.”

“The study of the mummy of the Homotherium latidens cub made it possible for the first time to observe its fur, the shape of its muzzle, the shape and position of the auricle, the morphology of the mouth opening and nasal planum,” study authors concluded. “New information about the juvenile stages of development of the skull and limbs makes it possible to establish the peculiarities of the early postnatal ontogenesis of Homotherium.”