A massive cheetah that was free in China a million years ago would have confronted a tiger head-on.

By examining fossilized skull fragments of the enormous animal, scientists have discovered the largest-known cheetah species. The enormous predator weighed more than three times as much as a contemporary cheetah and as much as the largest cats still in existence. Acinonyx pleistocaenicus was a species that inhabited Eurasia between 1.3 million and 500,000 years ago. Based on a fragmentary lower jawbone from Shanxi Province in northern China, it was initially reported in 1925. The length of the skull, the height of the molar tooth, and the width of the bony structure that connects the skull and spine—which is known to be an accurate predictor of body mass in mammals—were used by the researchers in the new study to estimate the weight of the animal. The remains were analyzed in addition to more recently discovered fossils from China. They discovered that A. pleistocaenicus was probably more than 290 pounds (130 kg) and had the potential to weigh up to 420 pounds (190 kg), maki