Research overview: convergent evolution of running adaptations in cats

The cheetah and the extinct American cheetah independently evolved a slender, long-limbed body built for high-speed pursuit, a striking case of convergence given their separate ancestries within the puma lineage and beyond. This overview surveys the morphological and likely genetic underpinnings of cursorial adaptation in cats, how convergence misled earlier classification of the cheetah, and what comparative anatomy and genomics reveal about repeatedly building a running predator. It discusses the trade-offs of extreme speed specialization, the contrast with ambush hunters, and how studying convergence in felids illuminates the interplay between ecological opportunity and the genetic routes to similar phenotypes.