YAKUTIA, SIBERIA – A mummified Saber-Toothed kitten, the first of its kind, was found frozen in permafrost in Siberia, Russia, giving paleontologists a plethora of new information about the species. Prospectors discovered the artifact in 2020, and researchers released their extensive findings on Nov. 16 of this year. 

The 35,000-year-old specimen was found with the upper half almost completely intact. According to the official report in the journal Scientific Reports, the fur, flesh, face, forelimbs and torso were found almost perfectly intact. The bones of the pelvis and hind limbs were also found preserved in ice close by, though not mummified like the upper half. 

This lower half is not included in the specimen, leaving information still unknown. 

According to Professor Jack Tseng, a professor at Berkeley University who specializes in Saber-Toothed Tigers, “If the mummy was preserved in its entirety, I think we would’ve potentially had more information about the organs from the chest and stomach part of the animal.” 

The appearance of the tail is still ambiguous, leaving Tseng still curious.

“Are they like bobcats and lynx today with a little stubby tail, or are they like tigers and lions with a very long tail?” Tseng asked.

Even with this missing information, the mummy still provides crucial evidence about the Saber-Toothed Tiger, especially for the particular type found. The cub found was part of the Homotherium genus. 

“What’s significant about this find is that it’s from a group … that has no analog to present species,” Dr. Robert Feranec, a curator at the New York State Museum and research associate at the University at Albany who specializes in Saber-Toothed Tigers, writes in an e-mail interview. 

According to Feranec, other species found preserved in Siberian permafrost have had “a modern species that we can compare to,” while “the Homotherium cub has nothing modern to compare to.”

This lack of comparison was evident in the official report. The researchers compared the mummified cub to baby lion corpses of about the same age. To many specialists, the differences between these species were striking. 

“To me, the most impressive part was looking at the underside of one of the hands of the cub and seeing the meat pads that modern cats have,” Tseng adds. “It’s almost circular, and it doesn’t have as many meat pads on there as the lion foot, so maybe they were using more of their hands for hunting or grabbing onto things or even to just walk through deep snow.”

Some of these aspects, however, can’t be assumed for all members of the Homotherium genus, even though they’re present in the cub. The baby still had a lot of growing to do – however, the age is advantageous in terms of revealing the rate of development.

“The animal was only three weeks old when it died, so it only had the milk teeth, with the adult or permanent dentition still being in [the] developing process,” Dr. Manuel J. Salesa, a specialist in Saber-Toothed Tigers at the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in Madrid, indicated. 

“Having a cub is special in that we only know of a few specimens of juveniles,” Feranec explained. “We’ll need more individuals like this to understand growth rates accurately, but when we look at certain features of the adults, we can get an idea of [the] growth rates.”

This find is especially rare given the species. Saber-toothed tigers are predators, which, as Tseng explains, “are lower in population numbers, so there are fewer of them alive at any point in time in Earth’s history. So really, it’s a game of probability. There are just fewer carcasses on the land to preserve.” 

The fact that a predator like this was preserved so well, and at such a young age too, excites many scientists. The long-awaited find offers a treasure trove of information alongside many new questions about the Saber-Toothed Tiger. 

“Even though, in some sense, we were expecting it, it was still really awesome and surprising to see when it’s actually discovered and somebody publishes their findings,” Tseng stated. “In a way, those of us who study and have done research on Saber-Tooths have always dreamed about this kind of fossil being discovered.”