Ancestors of the cheetah have been suggested to have diverged from the Puma lineage in the Americas and migrated back to Asia and Africa, while other research suggests the cheetah diverged in the Old World itself.
Ia telah mengemukakan bahwa nenek moyang dari cheetah menyimpangnya dari garis keturunan Puma di Amerika dan bermigrasi kembali ke Asia dan Afrika, sedangkan penelitian lain menunjukkan menyimpangnya cheetah di Dunia Lama itu sendiri.