A gnarly looking mountain lion, with a second set of teeth and whiskers growing out of its forehead, was shot and killed by a hunter in Idaho late last month.
On Friday, The Idaho Department for Fish and Game (IDFG) released a photo of the deformed cat that was legally killed by a hunter on Dec. 30 after the feline attacked a dog.
According to the IDFG, the young male cat had what appeared to be fully-formed teeth and what appeared to be small whiskers growing out of hard, fur-covered tissue on the left side on the animal’s forehead.
The department said it couldn’t definitively explain why the deformity grew on the lion but speculated that the growth could be “the remnants of a conjoined twin that died in the womb and was absorbed into the other fetus.”
Officials said the feline was killed after attacking a family dog just outside of Preston. The cat was tracked by a hunter and was legally killed about three hours after attacking the pet. The dog survived the attack.
The IDFG said local biologists had never seen such a particular deformity before. The department also speculated that the deformity was a teratoma tumor, a growth “composed of tissue from which teeth, hair, and even fingers and toes can develop.”
The department said in a statement that “the hunter is not required to turn the animal over to Fish and Game for further analysis.”
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