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For thousands of years, the Arabian cheetah has been missing from the wild. These majestic cats once walked across the hot, dry deserts of the Arabian Peninsula. Today, a team of scientists found something amazing that could help bring them back. They discovered many ancient cheetah skeletons and mummies inside caves in the Middle East. These remains have stayed frozen for hundreds of years. No wild cheetah has been seen in this area for many decades. However, DNA from these old bones might hold the key to saving them. The ancient DNA can help bring the species back to its home.
Genetic studies show these ancient cats were very close relatives of two living groups. Scientists think they can use cats from these modern groups to start new populations in Arabia. The team shared their exciting findings in a report published on January 15. This report appeared in a science journal called Communications Earth & Environment. This step is very important for saving the Arabian cheetah.
Cheetahs once lived in large areas of Africa and parts of South Asia. On the Arabian Peninsula, they lived freely for a very long time. Sadly, losing their homes and being hunted by humans likely caused them to disappear. The last wild cheetahs were seen in the 1970s. Since then, the species was missing from this part of the world. But the story is not over yet. The ancient remains found in caves offer new hope for the future.
Ahmed Al-Boug works at the National Center for Wildlife in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He is a biologist who wants to save local animals. In 2022 and 2023, he went on a mission to find remains of the extinct Arabian wildcats. He joined a large team that checked 134 underground caves in the north. They searched every dark corner they could find. Their hard work paid off when they found cheetah remains in five of those caves. The team found 54 skeletons and seven mummies in total.
Scientists believe the cats fell into these caves long ago. They could not climb back out. The extreme heat dried out their bodies, creating natural mummies. This process preserved their soft tissues and bones for thousands of years. Liz Kierepka is a molecular ecologist who works at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. She said finding mummies after checking over 100 caves is highly unusual.