New cat species found in Spain that lived 15 million years ago

Using the fossil, scientists were able to illustrate what they thought the cat might have looked like

A new species of cat has been discovered by scientists in Spain.

The species is thought to have been a small feline that existed some 15.5 million years ago.

Researchers from The National Museum of Natural Sciences in Spain were able to identify the cat based on a very well preserved jawbone found near the city of Madrid.

In honour of the area where it was discovered, the species has been called Magerifelis peignei.

Magerifelis roughly translates to Madrid Cat.

Based on the well preserved jawbone that was found, researchers were able to create an image of what they thought the cat possibly looked like.

They believe Magerifelis peignei had a "strong bite when hunting" and might have behaved similarly to the Iberian lynx, suffocating their prey in their jaws.

Researchers believe the cat would have behaved similarly to the Iberian lynx, an endangered species that is native to south west Europe

"We recovered a practically complete jaw that preserved almost all of its teeth in exceptional condition," one of the researchers, Dr. Siliceo said.

The cat is thought to have weighed about 7.61kg, almost twice the weight of your average moggy.

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