Scientists in China found an amazing thing. This is the world’s smallest cat fossil, found in China, and it belongs to a completely new species of extinct leopard cat. This little cat was so small that it could fit in your hand.Archaeologists have unearthed the smallest known cat fossil at an ancient human site in eastern China, which has been identified as an extinct species of leopard cat, and this amazing feline was so small it could fit comfortably in the palm of anyone’s hand. So how young is he really? The size of ancient kittens was comparable to the smallest extant cat species, i.e. the rusty-spotted cat and the black-footed cat which are much smaller than the modern leopard cat. Those two cats are already the smallest on Earth today, so that gives you a good idea of how small this ancient cat really was.
Why is a 300,000-year-old cat found in China so unique?
The fossil turned up in a very famous place. Researchers from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences unearthed the fossil from a cave at the Hualongdong site in eastern China’s Anhui province, Chinese news website Xinhua Net reported. The cave is already famous to scientists for its ancient human remains, so finding a fossil of a small cat there was an unexpected thing.The new species is now officially named Prionelurus courteni or P. courteni According to a study published in the BioOne Digital Library, titled ‘Prionellurus courteni (Felidae, Carnivora), a new species of small felid from the Middle Pleistocene fossil hominin locality of Hualongdong, southern China’, it is not just a simple discovery, it actually solves a real scientific mystery. Molecular biology research notes that the leopard cat, domestic cat, and Pallas’s cat share a common ancestor, however, no fossil evidence was identified prior to the discovery. In simple terms, scientists already believed that these three types of cats were related, but they didn’t have proof until now.Big Cat Rescue described the discovery similarly, reporting that scientists unearthed a fossilized jaw fragment in China’s Hualongdong Cave that revealed a new species of ancient leopard cat, Prionelurus courteni, and that this cat, more than 300,000 years old, was so small it could fit in the palm of your hand, about the same size as today’s rust-spotted cat.
The science behind identifying Prionailurus courteni
You may wonder how researchers can learn so much from a small piece of jaw. The answer lies in the teeth. According to the study, the fossil shows a hooked first molar, which provides evidence from the jawbone and teeth that supports the common ancestry of the three species. That one tooth size was enough to link this ancient cat to today’s leopard cats, domestic cats, and Pallas’ cats.Finding this fossil was truly a matter of good fortune. Cat bones usually do not survive long enough to turn into fossils. Preserving fossils in the forest habitats where leopard cats lived has proven challenging. The cave may have protected this cat’s bones from weathering and decay, which is probably why it survived while many others did not.So why was this little cat hanging around a cave full of ancient humans? The lead researcher has a theory. “The food remains of ancient people at the Hualongdong site may also have attracted rats and those little leopard cats,” said IVPP’s Jiangzuo Qigao, first author of the paper. Basically, leftover food attracted rats, and rats attracted cats.But did humans actually eat these cats? It doesn’t seem so. “Due to the absence of human butcher marks on the fossil’s jawbone, it is unclear whether these cats were part of the diet of Hualongdong cave residents,” he said. While no bite marks mean there is no indication that the cat was hunted or eaten, it likely shared the same habitat as humans.Researchers have found about 20 different ancient human fossils, including relatively complete skulls, more than 400 stone artifacts, numerous bone fragments with evidence of artificial biting and cutting, and more than 80 vertebrate fossils.
Why is this ancient cat fossil more important than it looks?
This discovery is much more than an interesting story about a little cat. This changes what scientists know about the evolution of small wild cats.According to the study, the identification of P. courteni suggests that the diversity of leopard cats during prehistoric times was much greater than previously thought. In simple terms, many more species of small wild cats may have existed than scientists ever thought.The fossils also provide valuable clues about life in Hualongdong. “The discovery of animal fossils at the Hualongdong site may help shed light on the environment, diet and potential threats faced by ancient people,” Jiangzuo said.Each animal fossil found at the site helps researchers build a clearer picture of how early humans lived, what they ate and what challenges they faced in their environment.