Russian scientists hail discovery of 32,000-year-old sabre-toothed cat cub
A remarkably well-preserved cat cub, tens of thousands of years old, was discovered in Russia’s permafrost
The sabre-toothed cat cub is almost small enough to hold in one hand, but its discovery after 32,000 years is a momentous event for palaeontologists.
It was around three weeks old when it died in what is now northeastern Russia – and the permafrost has kept it well-preserved ever since.
Scientists from the Academy of Sciences in Yakutia in the Far East say it is a unique find.
“Nowhere else has it been found in such good preservation” said the academy’s Aisen Klimovsky who co-authored a paper on the cub published in the journal Scientific Reports this month.
Unlike previous skeletal specimens unearthed in Texas, this cub still has its dark brown fur.
“This is the first find that will show the world what they really looked like,” said Klimovsky of the Department for the Study of Mammoth Fauna at the institute in Yakutsk, the regional capital.