Posted on 09/08/2026 7:28:40 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
A new study, "Range and diet diversity in the Pleistocene American 'cheetah,' Miracinonyx trumani," was published in the scientific journal Current Biology on Friday.
Using the tiniest of bones, including some found in Wyoming's Natural Trap Cave, the diet and DNA of the American cheetah-like cat have been revealed in astonishing detail...
"It's actually most closely related to the living mountain lion, and those are both sister species most closely related to the jaguarundi," she said. "The three of them together are distantly related to modern cheetah."...
Some of the best Late Pleistocene specimens [various species] ever found have come from the sandy bottom of Natural Trap Cave in the Bighorn Mountains. Thousands of 20,000-year-old bones and skeletons from Ice Age animals are perfectly preserved in the moist, cool sediment at the bottom of the 80-foot-deep cavern.
In this new study, Miracinonyx specimens from Natural Trap Cave were compared with specimens newly collected from the Bluefish Caves in the Yukon and Upper Quartz Creek in eastern Alaska...
"In mid-continental North America, and Wyoming specifically, Miracinonyx was eating all sorts of different ungulates," Meachen said. "Our published isotope data shows it was eating bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, and probably horses, too." ...
It helps that previous isotope samples obtained from a 57,000-year-old mummified Pleistocene wolf pup, found in the Yukon permafrost in 2016, also revealed a diet dominated by fish.
(Excerpt) Read more at cowboystatedaily.com ...
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A map of locations where fossils of Miracinonyx, "the American cheetah," have been found in North America. A new study, revealing diet and DNA information on the extinct cat, studied specimens from Wyoming's Natural Trap Cave and two sites in eastern Alaska.Courtesy Photo
Thanks for the link!
Natural Trap Cave, earlier on FR:
“Our published isotope data shows it was eating bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, and probably horses, too.” ..
= = =
Were these today’s versions, or 20000 year old versions?
interesting. the strangest things I’ve read about the arctic is that the die off at the younger dryas might have happened all at once judging by the bones and living mamthoths that were quick frozen with grass in their mouths. I’ve read speculation that the reason for that might be that comet or something like briefly stripped out the atmosphere exposing the surface to space temperatures.
you might have previously posted the articles that gave me that impression.
And the advantage of saber tooth cats is a reduction in the human population.
(Lions, Tigers)
Bears?
Oh my!
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