Imagine a cat so tiny it can fit in the palm of your hand. This would have been a reality for ancient cave dwellers in what is now eastern China, where the smallest known cat fossil was unearthed by scientists, according to a study published in the Annales Zoologici Fennici.
The discovery was made in the Hualongdong cave, where scientists from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) have been studying the humans who lived there 300,000 years ago.
The fossil was the lower jaw fragment from an extinct species of leopard cat. The species, dubbed Prionailurus kurteni, was smaller than a house cat and represents the smallest known fossil of the Felidae family to date. Its size was comparable to that of the smallest existing cat species: the rusty-spotted cat and the black-footed cat.
Why is a leopard cat fossil so rare?
IVPP researcher and study author Jiangzuo Qigao said leopard cat fossils are a rare find because their remains decayed quickly in the forested habitat they preferred. However, this cat’s fossil was protected by the cave environment. The identification of P. kurteni suggests a potentially high diversity of leopard cats during prehistoric times, according to the study.
Since excavations began at the site in 2013, scientists have discovered dozens of human fossils in Hualongdong cave.
"The food scraps of ancient people at Hualongdong site might have lured rats and those small leopard cats as well," said Jiangzuo Qigao.
"It's unclear whether these cats constituted part of the Hualongdong cave dwellers' diet, due to the absence of human butchery marks on the fossil's jawbone," he added.
Researchers from Swedish Museum of Natural History and Northeast Forestry University in China also took part in the study.
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Top image: HodariNundu'