This is So Cool

They found a kitten in Siberia.

A 35,000 year old sabertooth  tiger kitten that was so well preserved that it still had its teeth and claws.

Not great for the aforementioned kitten, but great for paleontologists everywhere:

While searching for mammoth tusks in eastern Siberia, scavengers found a rare ice mummy along the banks of the Badyarikha River. One of the many treasures to be unearthed in Siberia, the finding turned out to be a three-week-old saber-toothed kitten preserved in the permafrost.

The study, published on Thursday in Scientific Reports, describes the frozen kitten’s 35,000-year-old body. The mummy contains the head and front parts of the animal, including fur and muzzle, making it possible for scientists to study these for the first time.

………

Using radiocarbon dating, the researchers found that the cub lived somewhere between 35,500 to 37,000 years ago. It also belonged to the species Homotherium latidens, and lived in the Late Pleistocene. Judging by its incisors, scientists estimate it was about three weeks old.

Amid all of the crappy news these days, this is good news.