Tiniest Cat Ever? Newly Discovered Fossil In China Shines Light On Extinct Feline Species

A cat as tiny as the palm of your hand? A newly discovered fossil of an extinct leopard cat was smaller than any other identified feline species. The fossilized jaw fragment could be the tiniest cat ever. The fossil is from the genus Prionailurus, an ancient leopard cat.

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Small wild leopard cats still thrive in parts of Asia, with four or five living species. Of all the living species, the fossilized cat is smaller than modern miniatures, such as the rusty-spotted cat and the black-footed cat from South Asia and Africa. Archaeologists estimate the weight of these tiny cats to have been around one kilogram (about 2.2 pounds). The average weight of a domestic house cat ranges from 8.8 to 11 pounds for comparison.

The discovery of the jaw fragment was in a geographic layer dating from 275,000 to 331,000 years ago. The fossil was in the Hualongdong Cave in eastern China. Similar fossils from this cat species, named Prionailurus kurteni, are extremely rare. The small felines had fragile bone structures, and their environments caused rapid bone degradation.

The fragment has two surviving teeth. Live Science has reported that the angle of the teeth may link leopard cats to domestic cats and Pallas’s cats. People often call the Pallas’s cat “the grumpy cat” because it has a permanent scowl due to its facial structure.

It is suspected that the Prionailurus kurteni may have existed with early humans and were attracted to the caves by food scraps left behind. This cat fossil’s projected age and location could shed new light on the study of feline life in that era.

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