The fastest land animal on the planet lies frozen in time beneath blistering desert sands. Researchers have discovered dozens of ancient cheetah skeletons and dehydrated bodies preserved in caves on the Arabian Peninsula, where the species hasn’t been spotted for decades.
The cats’ DNA may help humans reintroduce them to the region in the future. A new analysis of the naturally mummified and skeletal cheetahs’ genetics, published January 15 in Communications Earth & Environment, suggests the lost cheetahs were most closely related to two living subspecies rather than just one. These cheetahs could be used to found new populations on the Peninsula.
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