Ancient DNA Rewrites the Story of the "American Cheetah"

Ancient DNA shows Miracinonyx trumani was more closely related to pumas than cheetahs and lived over 20 degrees of latitude farther north than previously known. Isotope analysis of Yukon fossils suggests some populations ate almost nothing but fish.

• M. trumani split from cheetahs about 4.7 million years ago and from pumas 2.6 million years ago
• Yukon fossils extended the cat's known range more than 20 degrees of latitude north
• Three Yukon cats ate almost exclusively fish; the Wyoming specimen ate herbivores
• Two circadian rhythm genes were nonfunctional in M. trumani