Defining Cheetahs, a multivariate analysis of skull shape in big cats

The study has used a multivariate analysis of morphometric data to define and attempt to explain the differences and similarities between Acinonyx and Panthera. Despite being a highly specialized cat, the cheetah still follows the generalized large felid form in 21 out of 34 variables analyzed. The dental differences seen are adaptations to capturing and killing prey that have occurred in the genus Acinonyx alone. In addition, the cheetah retained some cranial features of the smaller cats, despite increasing its overall size. In view of this, it is not so much that cheetahs have altered that is surprising, but how apparently conservative the feline cranial shape has been over the last few million years.