Research overview: cats and the Great American Biotic Interchange

This overview surveys how the Great American Biotic Interchange, triggered by the rise of the Panamanian land bridge, allowed cats to spread between North and South America. Following this connection, predators including Smilodon, the jaguar, the puma, and the scimitar cat Homotherium dispersed southward, transforming the South American carnivore guild that had previously been dominated by marsupial-relatives such as the sabertooth Thylacosmilus. The survey reviews the timing of these felid invasions, how the newcomers interacted with and may have contributed to the decline of native predators, and what the resulting faunal mixing reveals about competition and ecological replacement. It discusses how the interchange shaped the distribution of sabertooths and big cats across the New World and set the stage for the late Pleistocene megafaunal communities of South America.