Page 13 - American Jaguar; Big Cats, Biogeography, and Human Borders
P. 13

through vast changes. During various ice ages, huge sheets of ice
              flowed across North America, carving out lake and river basins
              and scouring the landscape to create vast plains. Earth cooled
              considerably, and the thick tropical jungles that had once covered
              North America faded away, replaced by temperate forests, plains,
              swamps, and deserts.
                  At about that time, Homo sapiens moved into North America,
              migrating along the same land bridges as earlier mammals. Hunting
                                                  by these first humans likely
                   Lion  Panthera leo
 Felidae Evolutionary Tree  Leopard  Panthera pardus  contributed to the extinction
 Panthera ancestor  Jaguar  Panthera onca         of the continent’s largest,
                   Tiger  Panthera tigris
 6.4 MYA           Snow leopard  Panthera uncia   slow-moving mammals.
                   Clouded leopard  Neofelis nebulosa
                   Bornean clouded leopard  Neofelis diardi  A changing climate also
 Felid  Bay cat ancestor                          impacted the animals’
 ancestor  5.41 MYA  Asian golden cat  Pardofelis temminckii
                   Bornean bay cat  Pardofelis badia  ability to survive. As a
                   Marbled cat  Pardofelis marmorata
 10.8                                             result of human hunters
 MYA               Caracal  Caracal caracal
 Caracal ancestor                                 and changes in climate and
 5.6 MYA           African golden cat  Caracal aurata
 9.4 MYA           Serval  Leptailurus serval     the environment, nearly 75
                   Geoffroy’s cat  Leopardus geoffroyi  percent of all large mammals
 Ocelot ancestor   Kodkod  Leopardus guigna
 2.9 MYA           Oncilla  Leopardus tigrinus    in North America died out.
 8.5 MYA           Andean mountain cat  Leopardus jacobita  One by one, all the ancient
                   Pampas cat  Leopardus colocolo
                   Margay  Leopardus wiedii
                   Ocelot  Leopardus pardalis
 Lynx ancestor                                      This diagram shows how
 8.0 MYA  3.2 MYA  Iberian lynx  Lynx pardinus
                   Eurasian lynx  Lynx lynx         all species of cats descend
                   Canada lynx  Lynx canadensis     from a common ancestor,
                   Bobcat  Lynx rufus               which existed some eleven
 Puma ancestor     Puma  Puma concolor              million years ago. This
 7.2 MYA  4.9 MYA  Jaguarundi  Puma yagouaroundi    common ancestor gradually
                   Cheetah  Acinonyx jubatus        evolved into several
                   Asian leopard cat  Prionailurus bengalensis  different species, including
 6.7 MYA           Fishing cat  Prionailurus viverrinus  the common ancestor of
                   Flat-headed cat  Prionailurus planiceps  lions, tigers, and jaguars.
                   Rusty-spotted cat  Prionailurus rubiginosus  Although this diagram
 Leopard cat ancestor   Pallas’s cat  Otocolobus manul
 5.9 MYA                                            excludes some species
 6.2 MYA
                   Domestic cat  Felis catus        and subspecies, biologists
                   Wildcat  Felis silvestris        believe this to be an accurate
 Domestic cat ancestor  Sand cat  Felis margarita   depiction of the evolution of
 3.4 MYA           Black-footed cat  Felis nigripes  all known felines.
                   Jungle cat  Felis chaus
 12  11  10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1  Today
 Millions of years ago  (MYA)                       RULER OF THE SKY ISLANDS  15
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