Research overview: cave records of Miracinonyx in the American West

This overview surveys the cave and sinkhole deposits that have yielded the best-preserved remains of Miracinonyx, including material from caves in the Grand Canyon region and pitfall sites such as Natural Trap Cave in Wyoming. Dry caves in the arid West have preserved bones, and in some cases associated remains, that document the distribution, body form, and habitat preferences of the American cheetah-like cat. The survey reviews how these localities constrain the cat's geographic range across the Pleistocene western United States, what their stratigraphy and dating reveal about its persistence and eventual extinction, and how cave assemblages complement open-air finds. It discusses the importance of well-provenanced cave material for reconstructing the ecology of Miracinonyx and its place among the fast predators of Ice Age North America.