Mummy of juvenile sabre-toothed cat Homotherium latidens from Upper Pleistocene | Hacker News Reader

Mummy of juvenile sabre-toothed cat Homotherium latidens from Upper Pleistocene

nature.com

As much as I feel joy at the discovery for the advancement of science and human knowledge, a part of me feels sorrow for the wee critter so many years ago. I feel similarly for human archaeological discoveries, the illogical desire to extend warmth and comfort to those long since departed. So it goes, as Vonnegut wrote.

is a weird feeling indeed, but does science have explaination for it? sometimes I really ask myself whether i need this emotion and what it helps with?

Kindness? Compassion? Empathy? We would be a species of sociopaths without those, unable to coexist even in a little herd. No wonder how deep those traits are baked into the mammal brain, they are great for collective survival.

We cannot comfort the departed, but we would likely confort someone close instead.

It was very cute, like a feline golden retriever.

Nice. Does this finding make this sabre-toothed species a good candidate for de-extinction? I wish they discussed how well is DNA preserved in this mummy.

Can we also tamper with the genes to make it friendly and cuddly? There is a bigger market for pets than zoos.

Already done. We call such things "housecats". Want a cuddly wolf? They are called "newfoundlands". The genetic differences between wild killer and cuddly friend are insignificant.

But the optic differences between wolf and newfoundlands and cats and sabre tooth are quite significant.

People keep actual wolves and wolf hybrids as pets. I've met them before and they're a bit different than other dogs who can be like needy children. A wolf can have a personality that's cool, but the risk is great for random wolves or a wolf in a family with children.

PS: Huskies are just wolves with the gene for extra drama. ;)

While there are wolf traits that are different than the average dog, such differences in behavior pale in comparison to differences between dog breeds. The behavioral difference between a typical husky, newfie or havenese are far greater than between wolf and a generic "average" dog of similar size/body.

> PS: Huskies are just wolves with the gene for extra drama. ;)

And singing. They love to sing along.

While it's doubtlessly not very safe and probably unethical, a lot of people keep tigers as pets and they usually don't get eaten. If you gave a sabre tooth kitten to somebody experienced with raising large cats, my bet is they could do it without getting eaten. Probably. Despite the risk I bet you'd have no shortage of volunteers willing to try.

Unethical if done intentionally, only ethical if it's a rescue situation that cannot be otherwise avoided, everyone gets along well, and the particular cat isn't an absurdly-large lion or tiger.

Some people keep pumas as pets.

https://www.youtube.com/@Iampuma

I have a fear these two are going to be found half eaten someday.

Mammals tend to become aggressive around puberty, so there should be a way to tamper with his endocrine system to impede maturity and mental development. Humankind has done horrible genetic experiments with wolves, why not start with big cats?

If we can, there's the problem of where they would live. Looking at google maps, most of the good places for wildlife now is just a patchworks of deforrested farming fields and roads.

For the love of kitties, please clone it.

Ive always wanted to post a "DANGER! ATTACK CAT ON PREMISES" sign. But then I'll have to figure out a way to deal with all the half eaten would be burglars on said premises.

Also get some hyena or crows?

Get pigs.

I'll wait until they discover an entelodontidae mummy and clone it. Seems the Pleistocene was Nature's war animals period.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entelodontidae

Geese

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