Cave Lion Mummy May Not Be What It Seems

By Laura Geggel, Senior Writer | November 14, 2017 04:08pm ET

A Russian man hunting for mammoth tusks in Eastern Siberia made an unexpected discovery in September: the incredibly furry, slightly squished mummy of a cat from the last ice age. Scientists are celebrating the rare discovery, but they're not certain on one major point — whether the mummy is a cave lion cub or a lynx kitten, paleontologists told Live Science.

If the kitten is a lynx, it would be only the second species of its kind from the last ice age to be uncovered in Beringia, a region encompassing parts of Russia, Alaska and Canada, said Olga Potapova, the collections curator and manager at the Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, South Dakota, who is helping with the logistics of studying the new specimen.

People have spent at least 300 years collecting and studying frozen bones and mummies in Eastern Siberia, and "that yielded just one fossil bone of this [lynx] species," Potapova told Live Science in an email. So, "the find of the complete mummy of this species would be very surprising and interesting," she said. [Photos: Is Ice Age Cat Mummy a Lion or a Lynx?]

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Living Relatives Of 5,300-Year Old-Mummy Located In Austria

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online

A team of Austrian researchers have made a discovery that would put those genealogy websites to shame: they have located several living descendants of a 5,300-year-old human mummy.

The prehistoric individual, known as Ötzi the Iceman, was originally found frozen in the Alps back in 1991, according to Steve Nolan of the Daily Mail. The so-called ice mummy suffered from the oldest case of Lyme disease recorded to date, and was also lactose intolerant and predisposed to cardiovascular disease.

Now, forensic scientist Walther Parson and colleagues from the Institute of Legal Medicine at Innsbruck Medical University have identified 19 men who share a specific genetic mutation with Ötzi. These individuals were identified following an analysis of DNA samples from approximately 3,700 blood donors in the state of Tyrol, which is located in the western part of Austria.

“The discovery was made during a broader study into determining the origins of the people who now inhabit the Alpine regions. Along with their blood the donors were asked to provide their place of birth and family history,” said Matthew Day of The Telegraph.

To date, none of the men identified have been informed of their genetic link to Ötzi, Parson told Day. He added his research team is working with colleagues in Italy and Switzerland who are attempting to uncover the same genetic mutation in residents of those two nations.

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German boy finds 'a mummy' in grandmother's attic

A 10-year-old German boy has found what appears to be a mummy hidden in a corner of his grandmother's attic.

The "mummy" was inside a sarcophagus complete with hieroglyphic adornments, packed in a wooden crate.

But it is unclear whether the bandaged item found by Alexander Kettler in Diepholz, northern Germany, is a genuine relic from ancient Egypt.

Alexander's father Lutz Wolfgang Kettler, a dentist, said he had not X-rayed the mysterious find.

Instead he plans to load it into his car and drive it to Berlin to be examined by experts, he told the Bild newspaper.

Could the boy's grandfather have brought home an unusual souvenir from Egypt?

Mr Kettler said he had little doubt that the sarcophagus, as well as a death mask and acanopic jar - used by ancient Egyptians to store removed organs - found nearby, were replicas.

Mummy unwrapping?

However, he believes the mummy may be real.

The dentist's late father travelled to North Africa in the 1950s.

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