Bones found in Yukon ID'd as ice-age cheetah

But DNA analysis from the University of California said otherwise.

The test was performed by Molly Cassatt-Johnstone, at the time a lab technician who had just finished her undergrad. The Yukon bones were some of the first samples she ever worked on.

“So when I did the first preliminary analyses, and these didn’t look like pumas at all, I was like, ‘Oh, I’ve done something really, really wrong here,’” she laughed.

Yukon paleontologist Grant Zazula still remembers his amazement at the message he received that evening: “Hey Grant, your cougars aren’t cougars — they’re actually cheetahs.”

“Twenty-five years ago, looking at ancient DNA was almost science fiction, Jurassic Park kind of stuff,” said Zazula. “Now, doing genetic analysis on permafrost-preserved bones from the Yukon is kind of a regular thing we do.”