豹子无法改变自己的位置，但他们改变了自己的住所……

豹（Panthera pardus）是大型的标志性掠食者，目前分布在非洲和亚洲的大部分地区。据信亚洲人口是从非洲豹子中延续出来的，该豹子是在非洲裔散布事件中（与人类历史一样）的。

Based onfossil remains，我们知道大部分更新世的豹子也出现在欧洲，但是这些欧洲豹子在最后一个冰川时期（约25，000年前）灭绝了一段时间。但是，目前尚不清楚灭绝的欧洲豹子与今天在非洲和亚洲的豹子有关。

欧洲豹子与亚洲豹子相比，与非洲豹子相比，欧洲豹子与非洲豹子相比，这表明欧洲人口是建立在建立亚洲豹子的同一非洲外移民中。

我们调查了源自欧洲“冰河”豹子（其中一些已有45，000年历史）的古代DNA样品，以及来自博物馆收藏品的亚洲和非洲豹子样本，以解决有关古代和现代豹子之间关系的问题。以及这些标志性掠食者的生物地理学。

Biogeography involves the study of geographic distribution of lineages, and tries to infer the past processes that could have led to the observed patterns. For example, leopards lived in Europe until the end of the last glacial period, and the DNA from these extinct populations can tell us something about their origin, and how they are related to the leopards that live today.

对当前人群的DNA的调查只能揭示在当今豹子中幸存的遗传多样性。尽管与古代和历史样本的DNA在内，虽然具有挑战性，但可以为物种的历史和遗传多样性提供独特的见解。这是因为它使我们能够获得有关当今不再存在的谱系和人群的信息，例如欧洲豹。

我们对古代DNA序列的分析表明，欧洲豹子与亚洲豹子相比，与非洲豹子相比，这表明欧洲人口是建立在建立亚洲豹子的同一非洲裔迁移中。

非洲外面：不是第一个也是最后一个

我们的数据为所有活豹子的假设的非洲起源提供了进一步的支持。还有许多其他哺乳动物提出了非洲血统（例如鬣狗，狮子），包括我们自己的祖先。

我们使用fossil-calibrated genetic methods to estimate the timing of the leopard out-of-Africa dispersal, and our results suggest it occurred between 710-483 thousand years ago. The genetic data for leopards also suggests that the out-of-Africa dispersal happened in a single event, rather than multiple, repeated events.

The timing of this event does not directly correlate with the dispersal of the earliest Hominids (直立，大约200万年前）或最早的解剖学现代人类（H. Sapiens，approx. 100 thousand years ago), so it is likely that different processes drove the out-of-Africa dispersal events for each species.

我们的爪哇豹子的意外结果

One of our leopard samples was reported to originate from Java, where leopards are assigned to a separate subspecies (the Javan leopardPanthera pardus melas）。Previous studiesfound that DNA from Javan leopards was distinct from all mainland Asian leopards, suggesting that this population has been isolated in South East Asia for a long time. However, we found that the Javan leopard museum specimen is closely related to the Indochinese leopard, suggesting instead that there may have been a more recent genetic exchange between mainland and Javan leopards.

Although, of course, the results from a single sample should be treated with caution, they do urge for more detailed investigations of the Javan leopard and its relationship to the mainland populations.

对现代豹子的影响

We investigated mitochondrial DNA, which is only a small part of the genome and is only inherited through the female line. Thus, it only reveals a part of the evolutionary history of a species, and there can be multiple scenarios that lead to similar genetic patterns, making them difficult to distinguish. The unexpected result for the Javan leopard is a good example of the challenges associated with the formulation of conservation strategies.

目前，Javan Leopard的保护工作是基于其作为独特亚种的分类学地位。我们的结果可能表明，大陆和爪哇之间的基因流量比以前认为的，这可能对豹种群管理产生影响。

但是，当前的分类法是基于与线粒体DNA更多的许多因素。需要收集更多数据，以充分表征Javan与大陆豹之间的关系，以及如何最好地确保其持续生存。