Research overview: the Bering land bridge and felid migrations

This overview examines the central role of the Bering land bridge in the history of cats, serving as a recurrent corridor for felid movement between Asia and North America. The survey reviews how lowered sea levels during glacial periods exposed Beringia, allowing cats to cross in both directions at different times, from the early stem felids that ended the North American cat gap to later pantherines and the ancestors of the cave and American lions. It discusses how the timing of these crossings is reconstructed from fossils and ancient DNA, how Beringia connected Old and New World cat faunas, and why intermittent land-bridge connectivity shaped which cats reached which continents. The survey frames Beringia as a pivotal hinge in the intercontinental story of felid evolution and dispersal.