Ancient Fossil Suggests Origin of Cheetahs

A nearly complete skull of a primitive cheetah that sprinted about in China more than 2 million years ago suggests the agile cats originated in the Old World rather than in the Americas.

While in Armenia 97/98, their minister of zoology and a well known hunter swore to me he had seen Cheetahs in the mountains. He did say they were a little shorter but heavier.

Now, I have never been to Armenia, and you did mention that the man was not only a minister of Zoology but also a hunter of reknown. Thus, what I have to say may be way of the mark, but I believe I am probably correct. What that man probably saw was a Leopard and not a Cheetah, for several reasons.

One, Leopards have the widest geographical range of any large cat (ranging from the savannahs and bushveldt of Africa to the jungles of India, the snow expanses of Russia, the mountains of Tibet, some parts of China, Java and Ceylon, some parts of the mid East...it has a very wide range). They have a very wide range, and although secretive (they are the hardest to spot) are thriving quite well. They can also subsist on a very widely varied diet, ranging from large game to rock hyraxes the size of large rats.

The second thing is that Cheetahs are highly specialized hunters, requiring wide open plains to hunt (which is why most are found in Africa ...there might still be a small population in Iran) and small prey (not much larger than a Thompsons gazelle). A mountain range would be death to a Cheetah.

Third, the man described the beast a shorter but heavier. That sounds exactly like a leopard, which is much stockier than a Cheetah (it is far more muscular), not as 'tall,' and even though leopards are larger and heavier than Cheetahs they do not look as 'long' because their proportions are stockier than a cheetah.

Anyways, I cannot say what the man saw, and if he said he saw a Cheetah then that's what he saw. However, most probably he saw a Leopard since it has an insanely wide geographical footprint, it can eat anything, it can live in mountainous areas easily, and the description he gave does not sound like that of a Cheetah. Add to this that Cheetahs cannot live in the mountains (they would starve), are highly specialized hunters (one of the reasons they are endangered, coupled with very thin robust breeding stock, and a wide bevy of other dangers), and have a very distinctive look due to their specialization for nothing more than excessive speed (even their spine is curved and almost spring-like to eek out extra mph).

While I cannot speak for the man, and even though he is a hunter who is a minister of zoology, he probably saw a leopard. If not, then it is a new species of Cheetah that is stockier and can live in high altitudes (bad for a runner, particularly one that even in low-land Savannah quickly runs out of breath and has to catch its prey very quickly or else it tires and the prey escapes. Most cheetah hunts end in failure due to miscalculation of distance to prey, leading to the cheetah getting tired and breaking of the hunt) and can run on extremely uneven ground in the mountains. That is definitely no cheetah similar to the ones in Africa and Iran.

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