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New Research on Scimitar Cats Reveal New Info.

Wednesday, 25 October 2017 09:00

DNA samples from fossil bones, researchers are shedding new light on the evolution and range of these ancient predators.

Genetic evidence from two Yukon fossils is uncovering more history about scimitar (SIM-I-TAR) cats. Using radiocarbon dating and DNA samples from fossil bones, researchers are shedding new light on the evolution and range of these ancient predators. The data also raises new questions about when and why the cats became extinct.

The recovered DNA indicates the scimitar cat populations in Eurasia and North America, once thought to be separate branches of the family tree, may have represented a single species that ranged across the Northern Hemisphere. They were previously believed to have disappeared from Europe around 200,000 years ago, but this new research suggests that they survived until as late as 28,000 years ago.

Two of the four fossil specimens that were used in this research were found in Yukon. One was discovered in the 1980s on a claim on Sixty Mile River while the other only a few years ago at a mine on Dominion Creek.

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