American Cheetah

The American Cheetah (Miracinonyx trumani and Miracinonyx inexpectatus) actually comprised two very different species. These species were predators that lived in the Pleistocene era in North America, about 2.6 million to 12,000 years ago. Interestingly, the American cheetah was more closely related to modern pumas and cougars than it was to cheetahs. If, in fact, the American Cheetah turns out not to have been a true cheetah. Scientists attribute this fact to convergent evolution, the tendency for animals in the same ecosystems to evolve the same general features. The two species of the American cheetah seem to have shared some important general characteristics, including a preference for open grasslands and plains of North America, particularly in what is now the western section of North America. Like modern cheetahs, the lithe, long-legged American cheetah hunted by pursuing speedy mammalian megafauna, including deer and prehistoric horses, across the rolling North American plains. However, there's no way to know if this ancient mammal could achieve modern cheetah-like bursts of speed in the 50-mph range, or if its speed limit was set by evolution to a much lower level. Miracinonyx intrumani more closely resembled a modern cheetah, and may, indeed, have been capable of hitting top speeds of over 50 mph in pursuit of prey. Miracinonyx inexpectatus was built more like a cougar than a cheetah (though it was somewhat slimmer overall), and its fully retractable claws point to a possible arboreal lifestyle—that is, instead of chasing prey over the prairies like Miracinonyx intrumani, it may have leaped on them from the low branches of trees, or perhaps scrambled up trees to escape the notice of larger predators.
Category:Cats
Category:Carnivores
Category:Wyoming Animals
Category:Extinct Animals
Category:Cenozoic Animals