Rosa Rubicondior: Creationism Refuted - The 'American Cheetah' Was Not A Cheetah

Sunday, 13 September 2026

Creationism Refuted - The 'American Cheetah' Was Not A Cheetah - Convergent Evolution

The feline Miracinonyx trumani got its nickname, the “American cheetah,” from its slender, long-limbed body, reminiscent of an African cheetah. While the extinct Pleistocene predator did hunt down speedy prey, such as saiga antelope (illustrated), a new study shows some animals ate a diet of mostly fish, suggesting the species was more adaptable than previously thought.

Velizar Simeonovski

The extinct American ‘cheetah’ was not a cheetah after all | EurekAlert!

A cat can look rather like a cheetah without being a cheetah, and a predator with long legs need not spend its life chasing antelopes. That is the lesson from new research into the extinct “American cheetah”, Miracinonyx trumani, whose ancient DNA and dietary chemistry reveal a more complicated animal than its nickname suggests. It is also another example of why evolutionary relationships have to be investigated through evidence, rather than decided by resemblance and fitted into preconceived categories.

The study, led by Molly Cassatt-Johnstone of the University of California, Santa Cruz, and published in Current Biology, analysed ancient DNA from four specimens. It strengthens earlier evidence that Miracinonyx was more closely related to living pumas than to true cheetahs, with the puma and Miracinonyx lineages estimated to have separated approximately 2.6 million years ago. Its cheetah-like anatomy therefore reflects convergent evolution: the independent evolution of similar features in different lineages.

There is an immediate difficulty here for young-Earth creationism. The evolutionary separation of these cats occurred millions of years before the supposed “Creation Week”, while the three Yukon specimens themselves are approximately 31,000 years old. These were animals living, feeding and dying in an established ecosystem long before the entire universe supposedly existed according to a literal reading of Genesis. Their identification also extends the animal’s known distribution far into northern Canada. Science News.

An artistic rendering of Miracinonyx.

An artistic rending of Miracinonyx and the ecosystem they lived in.

Images by Julius Csotonyi (CC-BY SA)

The northern animals provide a further surprise. Their isotope signatures suggest substantial consumption of fish or other aquatic food, whereas the Wyoming specimen shows a pattern consistent with eating terrestrial herbivores. This does not establish whether the northern cats caught fish themselves or scavenged them, but it does undermine the assumption that *Miracinonyx* was necessarily a specialist in pursuing fast-running prey. Its ecology appears to have been considerably more flexible. Science News.

For creationists, simply assigning all these animals to a vaguely defined “cat kind” explains none of this. It does not account for the particular branching relationships preserved in their DNA, the estimated dates of their divergence, or the independent evolution of similar anatomy. A label can accommodate almost anything when its boundaries remain adjustable; a scientific explanation must account for the details and remain open to testing.

There is also a useful illustration here of how science corrects and refines its understanding. Researchers have tested an appealing comparison against genetic and chemical evidence and uncovered a richer evolutionary history. The result is an extinct puma relative with its own combination of anatomical features and ecological opportunities—an animal whose identity emerges from the evidence, rather than from the name we happened to give it.

Where did the American cats come from? The Americas have an impressive variety of native cats, from jaguars and pumas to lynxes, ocelots and small Andean cats. However, these animals do not form a single evolutionary branch separate from the cats of Africa and Eurasia. Their relationships record a history of migration, geographical isolation and diversification over millions of years.

A family with ancient international connections

Genetic and fossil evidence places the common ancestry of living cats in the Miocene, roughly 10–11 million years ago, with Asia playing a central role in their early diversification. This dates the ancestry shared by living cats; the wider cat family, including earlier extinct branches, is older. A major genetic study identified eight principal living lineages and reconstructed repeated movements between continents. [1]

For cats entering North America from Eurasia, the crucial route was Beringia, the region linking Siberia and Alaska when conditions permitted overland movement. Different lineages crossed at different times, and dispersal was not exclusively in one direction. Later, the developing connection through Panama allowed cats to spread from North into South America as part of the Great American Biotic Interchange. [1]

How the American cats fit into the family

American cats Relationships with other cats

Jaguar
Panthera onca Belongs to Panthera, alongside lions, leopards, tigers and snow leopards. It is more closely related to these African and Eurasian cats than to the American puma.

Puma and jaguarundi
Puma concolor and Herpailurus yagouaroundi Belong to the puma lineage, which also includes the true cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus. Despite its name, the jaguarundi is not a small jaguar.

Canada lynx and bobcat
Lynx canadensis and Lynx rufus Share the genus Lynx with the Eurasian and Iberian lynxes: another branch spanning the Old and New Worlds.

Ocelot, margay and related small cats
Leopardus species Form a distinct American radiation. Despite the genus name, these cats are not miniature leopards; true leopards belong to Panthera.

These relationships are summarised in the IUCN Cat Specialist Group’s review of cat classification. Body size, coat markings and common names are not reliable substitutes for evolutionary relationships.

Where does the “American cheetah” belong?

The new ancient-DNA study places Miracinonyx trumani closest to pumas, with their lineages separating approximately 2.6 million years ago. Its resemblance to a true cheetah reflects the independent evolution of cheetah-like features within this wider group of related cats. Convergent evolution does not require animals to be wholly unrelated: even evolutionary cousins can independently acquire similar specialisations. [2]

One distinction matters here: the existence of an “American cheetah” does not establish that true cheetahs originated in America. The geographical origin and dispersal history of Acinonyx have been debated, and Miracinonyx cannot simply be treated as its American ancestor. [3]

The resulting picture is of a branching family whose members spread, became isolated and adapted to different environments. Modern continental boundaries describe where cats live now; they do not define separate origins or immutable biological “kinds”.

American cats	Relationships with other cats
Jaguar Panthera onca	Belongs to Panthera, alongside lions, leopards, tigers and snow leopards. It is more closely related to these African and Eurasian cats than to the American puma.
Puma and jaguarundi Puma concolor and Herpailurus yagouaroundi	Belong to the puma lineage, which also includes the true cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus. Despite its name, the jaguarundi is not a small jaguar.
Canada lynx and bobcat Lynx canadensis and Lynx rufus	Share the genus Lynx with the Eurasian and Iberian lynxes: another branch spanning the Old and New Worlds.
Ocelot, margay and related small cats Leopardus species	Form a distinct American radiation. Despite the genus name, these cats are not miniature leopards; true leopards belong to Panthera.

The findings are described in a Cell Press press release in EurekAlert!.

The extinct American ‘cheetah’ was not a cheetah after all
With their slender bodies and long front legs, Miracinonyx trumani—often nicknamed the “American cheetah”—was long thought to be a North American analog of the African big cat. But in a new study publishing September 4 in the Cell Press journal Current Biology, researchers reveal that the extinct cat was more closely related to pumas. Some populations living near the Arctic preyed almost exclusively on fish, challenging the long-held assumption that these “cheetahs” chased fast-running prey, such as pronghorns.

It’s very hard to imagine a prehistoric species we’ve never seen without comparing it to something we know, but this approach can limit our understanding of ancient animals’ complexity, unique evolutionary histories, and behaviors.

Molly Cassatt-Johnstone, first author.
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of California, Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, CA, USA.

The American cheetah roamed North America’s open grasslands during the Pleistocene epoch, about 2.5 million to 16,000 years ago. Based on fossils uncovered to date, M. trumani had a slender body shape, long forelimbs, and large nasal cavities—features that are characteristic of modern fast-running animals such as cheetahs or horses. In addition, paleontologists have discovered some M. trumani remains alongside those of pronghorns, fast-running animals known colloquially as the “American antelope," leading researchers to assume that the extinct cat had a similar lifestyle to modern African cheetahs.

However, in recent years, increasing evidence has suggested that M. trumani may not have been as cheetah - like as its appearance suggests. To delve deeper, Cassatt-Johnstone and her team sequenced the most complete M. trumani ancient DNA set to date from four specimens, one from Wyoming and three from Canada’s Yukon territory. The Yukon samples were previously thought to be a different species, but the team confirmed that they belong to M. trumani, extending the known range of M. trumani more than 20 degrees of latitude farther north than previously known. 

The researchers then compared M. trumani’s DNA with that of nine other cat species, ranging from lions to house cats. They found that M. trumani shared a common ancestor with modern cheetahs about 4.7 million years ago. The species was most closely related to modern pumas, having diverged from a common ancestor about 2.6 million years ago.

Curious about what M. trumani ate in the absence of pronghorn, which aren’t found as far north as Canada’s Yukon territory, the team analyzed the nitrogen and carbon in the Yukon fossils to determine their diet and where they sat in the food chain.

The team found that despite being discovered in different locations and having lived hundreds of years apart, the Yukon M. trumani individuals all showed signals indicating that they preyed almost exclusively on fish. The fossils’ nitrogen profiles were similar to those observed in fish-specialist orcas and sea wolves living along the coast of British Columbia, which eat mainly marine animals. In contrast, the M. trumani in Wyoming had the nitrogen markers of a terrestrial predator that mostly eats herbivores, similar to lions.

The drastic range of M. trumani’s diet suggests that the animals were able to adapt to a variety of food sources. Such flexibility may have helped the species survive across diverse environments, from the subtropics to the Arctic, Cassatt-Johnstone says.

The researchers also found that two of M. trumani’s genes involved in circadian rhythm regulation were nonfunctional. These genes help control animals’ internal clocks, which use cues like sunlight to determine when to sleep. In M. trumani, the loss of these functional genes may suggest that populations living at high latitudes adapted to extreme periods of daylight and darkness, or that the animals were nocturnal.

It’s really surprising and exciting to identify another predator present in Beringia.

Molly Cassatt-Johnstone.

[Cassat-Johnson was] referring to the ancient land region connecting northeastern Asia and northwestern North America during the Pleistocene, where woolly mammoths and other large mammals roamed. Like the woolly mammoth, M. trumani likely went extinct as the last ice age transitioned to the warmer Holocene.

There are probably other extinct species that, unfortunately, have been reduced to fewer dimensions than they deserve. The M. trumani fossils suggest that this ‘American cheetah’ was far more adaptable than its nickname implies

Molly Cassatt-Johnstone.

Publication:
Cassatt-Johnstone M, Wooldridge T, Ghosh S, et al.
Range and diet diversity in the Pleistocene American “cheetah,” Miracinonyx trumani
Current Biology, 2026; 0

Highlights

Ancient DNA reveals American cheetahs lived in Canadian Arctic 30,000 years ago
American cheetahs and pumas are sister species that diverged ∼2.6 million years ago
Yukon population specialized on aquatic prey unlike the generalist southern population
Circadian gene losses may reflect relaxed constraints at high latitudes

Summary
The extinct “American cheetah” (Miracinonyx trumani) has long been considered a North American ecological analog of the African cheetah^1,2 (Acinonyx jubatus) based on convergent cursorial morphology, yet this paradigm rests on limited data3 and untested assumptions about its evolutionary relationships and ecology.^2,4 Here, we generate nuclear paleogenomes from M. trumani specimens from Wyoming (∼23 kya; thousand years ago) and Yukon (∼31 kya), definitively placing this enigmatic felid within the evolutionary tree of cats. Phylogenomic analyses confirm M. trumani as sister to pumas (Puma concolor), not cheetahs, with a divergence of ∼2.6 million years ago (mya) during rapid Pliocene-Pleistocene climate oscillations. The Yukon specimens extend the species’ known range² by over 20° latitude into the Arctic, and stable isotope analyses reveal striking ecological differentiation, with the Yukon population occupying an elevated trophic position consistent with exploitation of anadromous fish, while the Wyoming population functioned as a generalist terrestrial predator. This evidence suggests that M. trumani exhibited remarkable ecological versatility, while loss-of-function mutations in circadian genes may reflect relaxed constraints on circadian regulation. Together, these findings underscore how morphological convergence can obscure the true diversity and complexity of extinct megafaunal ecosystems.

Figure 1 Geographic distribution and sample localities for M. trumani
(A) Map showing the Late Pleistocene fossil record of M. trumani (yellow; extracted from Neotoma Paleoecology Database⁸ and Paleobiology Database⁹) and localities of samples analyzed (blue). Shaded regions indicate the extent of continental ice during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM).

(B) Photographs of analyzed fossil elements: (I) Quartz Creek 1, (II) Bluefish Caves, (III) Quartz Creek 2, and (IV) Natural Trap Cave.

Figure 2 Species tree and divergence-time estimates for M. trumani and extant felids
Maximum-likelihood trees were inferred from 10-kb autosomal windows and used with ASTRAL to infer a coalescent species tree. All nodes showed 100% quartet support. Divergence times were inferred using clock-like 10-kb windows selected (see STAR Methods) and fossil calibrations from Johnson et al.¹⁹ Extinct species are indicated with ✝.
See also Figure S2.

Figure 3 Population history, heterozygosity patterns, and genome-wide diversity of M. trumani
(A) Demographic history as inferred with MSMC2¹⁷ and a scaled mitochondrial time-calibrated BEAST phylogeny of Yukon and Wyoming M. trumani individuals (see also Figure S1). Dashed lines show marine isotope stages (MIS) with a blue-gray temperature scale.²³
(B) Heterozygosity across 1-Mb windows; despite low genome-wide means, few windows are devoid of heterozygosity, indicating no extended runs of homozygosity (ROH).
(C) Genome-wide heterozygosity (mean hets/kb), showing M. trumani values are comparable to other published estimates of low-diversity taxa.

Figure 4 Isotopic differentiation of M. trumani relative to coeval Beringian fauna
Bulk stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of individuals from Yukon (darker blue: Bluefish Caves; lighter blue: Quartz Creek) and Wyoming¹³ (orange); coeval regional carnivores (black), and herbivores (green) from 30–35 kya (Extended Table 1, see data and code availability for a link to extended tables).
See also Figure S3.

Cassatt-Johnstone M, Wooldridge T, Ghosh S, et al.
Range and diet diversity in the Pleistocene American “cheetah,” Miracinonyx trumani
Current Biology, 2026; 0

Copyright: © 2026 The authors.
Published by Elsevier Inc. Open access.
Reprinted under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0)

Miracinonyx adds another detail to a history that creationism cannot explain: a world in which populations disperse, lineages diverge and similar features evolve independently. Its relationship to pumas, its cheetah-like proportions and its apparent dietary flexibility make sense within that evolutionary history. Calling it a member of a created “cat kind” contributes no explanation for those particular relationships, adaptations or their timing.

The timescale is especially inconvenient for biblical literalism. The estimated separation of the puma and *Miracinonyx* lineages some 2.6 million years ago places their shared ancestry vastly earlier than the supposed creation of the universe. Even the Yukon individuals lived tens of thousands of years before the biblical timetable allows. These were predators exploiting an existing ecosystem, with an evolutionary history already extending millions of years into the past.

The research also demonstrates why scientific explanations remain provisional. A resemblance suggested a comparison; genetic and chemical evidence helped researchers test its implications. The resulting picture is more informative than the familiar nickname: an extinct puma relative whose northern populations apparently exploited aquatic food, although whether they caught it or scavenged it remains unresolved. Acknowledging that uncertainty is part of explaining what the evidence actually shows.

No foresight is needed to account for this history. Evolution works with inherited variation and the opportunities available to organisms at the time. It produces neither fixed categories nor animals obliged to conform to human expectations. The “American cheetah” was under no obligation to behave like an African cheetah—and its surviving DNA has helped us understand why.

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