Linxia Cheetah - Acinonyx kurteni

[Acinonyx sp.]

The conclusion of the validity of kurteni:

In Chinese museums fossils are and in China in general fossils are faked. All kinds of fossils have been faked including fossils of mammals, birds, marine reptiles, terrestrial reptiles etc. The fossil of the linxia cheetah could also be fake according to Chinese paleontologist Deng Tao. He suggests that the fossil is fake because the skull looks concocted by plaster. When this was reported to PNAS (a place for publishing papers), the staff of PNAS did not bother to look at and examine the skull; this is remarked to be dodgy. Dr.Qiu Zhan Jiang (an expert at mammal skulls) agrees with Deng Tao. Deng also argues that this specimen is not a new species but it is Sivapanthera linxiaensis (which was later found to be Acinonyx pardinensis linxiaensis but this is debatble). Mazak and Christiansen, the authors of said study insist that the plasters don’t take away the status of kurteni as a primitive cheetah but Christiansen has not even seen the skull in person. Only Mazak has seen the skull in-person and he also refuses to let Deng see it in-person.  Finally, Dr.Mazak withdrew the paper, admitting that the linxia cheetah was fake. Reply