Scientists have discovered in the mountains of Tibet the remains of extinct animals that are the ancestors of modern leopards and leopards. Bone fragments from at least three different individuals, including a jaw with several preserved teeth, indicate that the fossil leopard was comparable in size to its descendants. Details with reference to the publication of scientists in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B are provided by Nature News.

Researchers from the American Museum of Natural History in New York described a fragment of a skull that belonged to an adult animal. The upper jaw retained three teeth, and thanks to this, scientists were able to draw conclusions about the animal’s diet. In lifestyle and appearance, the fossil leopard Panthera blytheae was very similar to modern leopards: inferior in size to the snow leopard Uncia uncia , but in the same category as Neofelis nebulosa , the clouded leopard.

The snow leopard, like the clouded leopard, belongs to the subfamily of big cats, Pantherinae . Previously, the most ancient representatives of this family were found in Africa and therefore some researchers believed that it was there that big cats appeared no later than 3.8 million years before the present day. The new find is dated in two different ways and cannot be younger than 4.42 million years: that is the age of the rocks surrounding the leopard bones. Dating from other fossils found at the same site gives an even higher age, 5.95 million years.

At the same time, the researchers emphasized that the extreme similarity of Panthera blytheae with modern animals does not allow us to say that the first representative of big cats has been found. Molecular analysis previously conducted by other scientists indicates that this subfamily separated from all other felines no later than 16 million years ago, so the oldest big cats have yet to be found.

Molecular methods for determining the structure of the evolutionary tree are based on the fact that differences in DNA or protein structure accumulate across organisms at a known rate. The later the species split, the more similar the molecules that make up their cells will be; these data complement the traditional method of fossil comparison. In addition to zoologists, molecular methods are also used by anthropologists who want to reconstruct the picture of human settlement and migration of peoples.

The ancestors of leopards turned out to come from Tibet