Learn about new fossil studies revealing its impressive size, making it the largest cheetah to have ever roamed the earth.
This mighty cat, known as the giant cheetah, roamed Eurasia around 1.3 million to 500,000 years ago.
The first Eurasian Acinonyx appeared in the latest Pliocene to earliest Pleistocene epochs, spanning Europe, central, and eastern Asia.
In a new study, scientists analysed older fossils alongside more recent discoveries to ascertain a more accurate size. They examined the length of the skull, height of the molar tooth and width of the bony structure connecting the skull and spine.
These findings indicated that this Goliath of a cheetah weighed between 130 and 190 kilograms, making it more comparable in size to a lion rather than a modern-day cheetah – which weighs 41-45kg – and the largest ever species of cheetah to have lived.
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The research was published in Quaternary Science Reviews.
Artwork by J. Ye, Qigao Jiangzuo/Jiangzuo et al/Quaternary Science Reviews)