Cheetahs haven’t been seen in Saudi Arabia for more than a century. Until recently, most evidence of their presence in the region lived in old records rather than in the ground.
That changed when researchers began excavating caves near the city of Arar in northern Saudi Arabia. Inside, they found something no one was expecting: naturally mummified cheetahs. As reported by the Associated Press, scientists uncovered seven mummified remains along with bones from at least 54 other cheetahs scattered throughout the cave system. Radiocarbon dating places the animals anywhere from about 130 years old to more than 1,800 years old.
The findings were detailed in a new study published in Communications Earth and Environment. Large mammals rarely preserve this well. For a body to survive intact, it has to avoid scavengers, moisture, bacteria, and time, which usually erase almost everything. In this case, the caves appear to have done the work. Dry air and stable temperatures dehydrated the bodies instead of letting them rot.
The cheetahs’ remains resemble dried husks. Clouded eyes. Shrunken limbs. Skin pulled tight against bone. Joan Madurell-Malapeira, a researcher at the University of Florence not involved in the discovery, told the AP it was unlike anything she’d seen before.
Why so many cheetahs ended up there remains unclear. Researchers believe the caves may have served as denning sites where mothers raised their young. Remains spanning centuries suggest the site was used again and again, not tied to a single moment.
The discovery is important because cheetahs once covered an enormous range. They lived across much of Africa and parts of Asia, including the Arabian Peninsula. Today, they occupy about 9 percent of that territory. Habitat loss, hunting, and dwindling prey pushed them out long before most people alive today were born.
For the first time with naturally mummified large cats, scientists were also able to extract genetic material. The cheetahs shared closer ties to modern Asian and northwest African populations than to African cheetahs farther south. That information could help guide future reintroduction efforts, though researchers caution that restoring large predators involves far more than genetics.
Ahmed Boug, a study author with Saudi Arabia’s National Center for Wildlife, described the find as “entirely without precedent” in an email to the AP.
The caves don’t bring cheetahs back. But they do complicate the idea that these animals disappeared without a trace. For centuries, they lived here, raised young here, and left behind way more evidence than anyone realized.
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