American Cheetah

(Pleistocene epoch) Lived around 2.6 million to 12,000

years ago

By: Eduarda Valentin and

Julianna Marchese
 Kingdom Animalia

Phylum Chordata

Class Mammalia

Order Carnivora
Classification
Family Felidae

Subfamily Felinae

Genus Miracinonyx

Species M. inexpectatus
Anatomy
The American cheetah looked like a cheetah from today,but it
mostly looked like a cougar. Their skull and teeth form was like
the modern day Cheetah. Its proportions looked like a cougar
mixed with a cheetah. They had retractable claws like a cougar,
but not like a cheetah. It also has a lighter build than a cougar to
be fast like a cheetah. It had a shortened face as well as nostrils
spread out to have better captivity of oxygen.

Weight 150-200 lbs

Size Length – 170 cm

Shoulder height -85 cms

Tail Length 92 cm
Locomotion

Since the American cheetah had a lighter

build, it is believed that it was faster than
the cougar. They also were better climbers
than the cheetah. The American Cheetah
was a very fast runner in an open
grassland habitat. They also were to have
been adapted for rapid bounding up rocky
slopes like the modern snow leopard. This is a drawing of the American Cheetah
running
Diet
The American Cheetah was a
carnivore. It is assumed that they
ate hoofed plains’ animals like
the pronghorn. They also ate
extinct species of mountain
sheep and horses.
Habitat The American Cheetah lived in the
following habitats :

Coastal savannah

Forest with open areas,

Appalachian mountain stream valleys

High mountain meadows/forested and

rocky slopes

They were first seen where Texas and

California are today, but recent records
show that they also lived where Wyoming,
Nebraska, Arkansas, Maryland,
Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Florida and
Arizona are.
Reproduction/Life Cycle

The American Cheetah sexually reproduced.

They give birth to live babies called cubs that
stay with their moms for about two years so
they can learn to hunt and take care of
themselves like the modern day cheetah.
 It’s Enemies
There were no natural enemies to
the American Cheetah, it was an
apex predator.
Protection (adaptations)
The American Cheetah had large nostrils to have better breathing. They also
had good climbing skills to climb their mountainous habitat. To catch their fast
prey (pronghorn) they were fast because they had a lighter build.
 When it went extinct and why.
When:
The American Cheetah was believed to have first
lived around 2.6 million years ago. They were also
believed to have gone extinct, around 12,000 years
ago. They are believed to have gone extinct towards
the end of the last ice age. THey went extinct along
side of 75% of North American mammals. Including
Saber-tooth Tigers, Mammoths, and Dire Wolves.

Why:
No one really know why the American Cheetah
went extinct, It is more of a mystery. Some people
believe that they went extinct because of climate
change, and the change in its environment
contributed to its extinction. Also, it was also
believed that because of the loss of of some of their
prey species, they started to go extinct.
Natural selection

American cheetahs were anatomically very similar to modern day cheetahs.

This suggest that today's cheetahs originated in North America and crossed
over to Asia through a land bridge before dispersing again to Africa. Their the
American cheetah adapted to hat is now the modern day cheetah and it’s new
adaptations.
 Most interesting facts
1. The most interesting fact about the
American Cheetah is that it was more
closely related to pumas and cougars than
they were to Cheetahs. They were
descended from more cougar-like
ancestors.
2. One of the American Cheetah’s prey, the
Pronghorn, ran very fast. It is believed the
reason for this is because they adapted to
be able to run fast enough to escape their
predator.
Sources

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151208204222.htm

http://library.sandiegozoo.org/factsheets/_extinct/cheetah1_american/cheeta
h1_american.html

https://phys.org/news/2015-12-genetics-african-cheetah.html

https://www.extinctanimals.org/american-cheetah.htm

https://blueline2011.wordpress.com/2011/12/03/extinct-animals/
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