Miracinonyx

Uncommon card · No. 120424

Miracinonyx, colloquially known as the American cheetah, is an extinct genus of cat that was native to North America during the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs (about 3.1 million to 16,000 years ago). It was a relatively large feline, estimated to have weighed 50–95 kg (110–209 lb), and may have been capable of hunting larger prey than the smaller modern cheetah. Its closest living relative is the cougar, while its anatomical similarities to the modern cheetah, including large nostrils and long legs adapted for cursoriality (specialization in running), are possibly a result of convergent evolution, the independent development of analogous physical traits due to similar environmental pressures. Unlike the modern cheetah, however, Miracinonyx had fully retractable claws and relatively robust legs. The first fossils ascribed to Miracinonyx were described by the American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope in the late 19th century, who thought the remains belonged to an extinct relative of the...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Susumu Tomiya, Public domain