Mountain Lion With Bizarre Mutation Discovered in Idaho
Nature can be unexpectedly creepy sometimes.
Note to self: Never got to Idaho.
Recently, an Idaho hunter shot a mountain lion dead after it attacked a dog near the town of Weston. Because these furtive creatures weren’t already terrifying enough, the woodsman discovered that this one had teeth growing from its forehead. From. Its. Forehead.
News outlets like the BBC caught wind of this surreal discovery and photos of the deformed mountain lion have exploded across social media.
Um. This mountain lion has teeth. on. its. head. https://t.co/k1YzhVGQRW pic.twitter.com/XyzHequx39
— Science Channel (@ScienceChannel) January 10, 2016
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There are many theories flying around: this was a genetic mutation, this was some sort of undiscovered super mountain lion, or Satan himself was getting funky in Idaho.
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game had to take to the Internet in an attempt to clear things up.
Idaho Fish and Game cannot definitively explain why this abnormality developed on this mountain lion. It is possible that the teeth could be the remnants of a conjoined twin that died in the womb and was absorbed into the other fetus. It is also possible that deformity was a teratoma tumor. These kinds of tumors are composed of tissue from which teeth, hair, and even fingers and toes can develop. They are rare in humans and animals. Biologists from the southeast region of Idaho Fish and Game have never seen anything like this particular deformity before.
This really doesn’t mollify my fears. Saying that biologists “have never seen anything like this particular deformity before” won’t help me sleep at night after seeing photos of a mountain lion with fangs growing from its forehead.
Stay safe, people of Idaho!
h/t BBC
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