Preston, Idaho: Mysterious Deformed Mountain Lion Has Second Set Of Teeth On Its Head

A hunter in Preston, Idaho, was tracking down a mountain lion that was involved in an attack on a dog when he came across something he can’t explain. Actually, he’s come across a mystery that no one can really explain, and it all has to do with the mountain lion. The animal is being considered a biological mystery as the mountain lion actually has a second set of teeth on top of its head.

CNN reported that the male mountain lion had attacked a dog near Preston, Idaho, sometime last week. Not long after, a hunter ended up killing the animal near the Utah border and then went up to collect his kill.

That was when the hunter stumbled across something that he never expected to see. The animal looked completely normal except for a second set of teeth and whiskers that had grown out of the top of his head.

Officials from the Idaho Fish and Game commission released a photo of the animal, and it truly just looks like the mountain lion had another mouth growing out the top of its head.

Once it had been revealed that no one had officially seen anything like that mountain lion with two sets of teeth, that was when the theories started rolling in.

According to Fox 2 Now, some believe that the teeth could have been the remnants of a conjoined twin that died in the womb of the mountain lions’ mother. It is possible that the other twin, if it existed, may have died in the womb and was absorbed into the other fetus but continued to grow.

The extra set of teeth and whiskers were located on the top of the mountain lion’s head in front of one of its ear. It doesn’t look as if there was an opening or open wound near the teeth which would represent another mouth.

All that is on the animal’s head are a few teeth and whiskers on a different colored portion of fur.

Idaho Fish and Game issues statement on deformed mountain lion https://t.co/Ynowgofjy9 pic.twitter.com/cR6lcrEPbG

— CarnivoreScience (@CarnivoreSci) January 9, 2016

Others have offered up the theory that it could be something called a teratoma tumor which is of Greek origin and translates to “monster tumor.” This type of abnormality has the possibility of growing teeth and hair, while in humans, it can actually develop toes and fingers.

The Idaho State Journal states that the animal is actually known as a yearling cougar and it stunned all wildlife biologists who saw it. Zack Lockyer really wasn’t sure what to make of the mountain lion once it was brought in by officials.

“It has all of us scratching our heads. It’s a bizarre situation and a bizarre photo.”

Once more thought was put into what may have happened to the mountain lion, a third theory came about. Some have thought that the animal suffered an injury of some form to its mouth which then had the jaw and mouth heal in a strange fashion and it resulted in the abnormality.

No signs of any injury have been found to back-up that theory though.

The mountain lion with a second set of teeth on its head may always end up being a mystery to the world and biologists everywhere. No one may ever know what caused it and it’s possible that another mystery deformation like it may ever be seen again, and it will simply go down as one of the stranger things in wildlife.

[Image by Wolfgang Kaehler/Getty Images]