Wildlife officials in Idaho are flummoxed over the discovery of a seemingly mutated mountain lion which had teeth growing out of the top of its head.
An unidentified hunter took down the creature last week and the photo documenting its strange condition has left experts puzzled.
"It has all of us scratching our heads," wildlife biologist Zach Lockyer told the Idaho State Journal, "it's a bizarre situation and a bizarre photo."
Officials concede that they've never seen such a unique creature before and are left guessing as to what caused its unique appearance.
The most prevalent theories center around incredibly rare circumstances which may have spawned the unsightly set of teeth.
Experts says that its possible the mountain lion was one half of a set of conjoined twins and that the 'horns' are absorbed remnants from its counterpart.
Another theory speculates that the creature was afflicted with a tumor known as a teratoma which grows its own body parts, including teeth.
Suggestions that the condition may be from a poorly healed jaw injury have been met with skepticism since the mountain lion's mouth seemed to be in otherwise fine condition and showed no signs of previous misfortune.
The hunter who took down the creature is still in possession of the mysterious animal and wants to have it mounted for posterity, but wildlife officials are hopeful that he'll allow them to examine the body so that the precise cause of the condition can be determined.
Until then, experts can only speculate as to what created the monstrous mountain lion and hope that there are no other such beasts lurking in the wilderness.