Wednesday, November 20, 2024

The Real Monstrous Matters: A Saber-Toothed Kitten in Siberia

I mean, poor kitty...but man is this cool.  A formal description and analysis has just been published for the frozen mummy of a saber-toothed cat cub that was found in Siberia in 2020.  The paper appeared in Scientific Reports on November 14 (open access, so it's free to check out!); the Science homepage also ran a nice summary article here.

Compared to a modern lion cub; from the paper

Radiocarbon dating places it at about 35,000 years old.  The fact that scientists are actually able to write, with experience, on the softness of the fur of an animal that lived that long ago is mind-blowing.

The coolest discovery?  Actually, no, I bet there are cooler ones here; this one just really struck me as something very basic and neat that can only be seen when you have soft tissue preserved like this.  This specific saber-toothed cat is missing a carpal pad (that fifth "toe bean" on your cat's front paws).

See there at the top?  It's missing a toe bean (#2 at the bottom)!  Although I do love that the authors describe the ancient cat's metacarpal pad as "bean-shaped"...so maybe it isn't missing one...?  Anyway...from the paper.

The authors chalk this up (along with the wide paws and the shape of their pads) to adaptation to walking on snow...which makes a ton of sense considering the cat's home, both geographically and temporally.

In case you're wondering, this isn't the famous Smilodon, the icon widely known as a "saber-toothed tiger."  This little tyke is actually from the genus Homotherium, which are more specifically designated "scimitar-toothed cats" (vs. the "dirk-toothed cats" of Smilodon).  Still freaking cool and I dare you to argue otherwise!

Anyway, here's a saber-toothed cat for Monstrous6.  I'm gonna try to convert directly from a 5e critter and see if it makes sense, as one goal with the system is to be able to do that pretty easily.  So here goes.  (Also, I find it a little odd that D&D hasn't changed to calling the Saber-Toothed Tiger a Saber-Toothed Cat...although I think it might have been called a Smilodon in 2e...?  At any rate, I'm going to take that liberty...)

From Pixabay

Saber-toothed Cat

Scale: --
Handling Difficulty: 14

35 HP, 12 Defense

Strength 5
Dexterity 4
Knowledge 1
Presence 2

Skills: Detect (smell) +3

Attacks: Bite (+6, 1d6+6 piercing damage) or Claw (+6, 2d6+5 slashing damage)

Special: If a saber-toothed cat hits with a claw attack after moving at least 20 feet straight in the direction of the target, the target must save [STR (Balance) 14] or fall prone.  If the target falls, the cat may immediately take a free bite.

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