Striped Tiger in S. America

Drawn as an anthro here, a somewhat mythical striped tiger. At least that's what it's been called. Apparently there have been reports of a striped big cat in S. America for years, the differenec between this cat, and say, the ABC in England is that for this one they actually have a skull for. So what is it? We're still waiting for the description but it's larger than a Jaguar and somewhat similar to a tiger. Could it actually be a tiger? Maybe, perhapse an escaped population breeding, or a bit more out there, Tigers made it to N. America after the last ice age but didn't fare as well as the American Lion


Until the paper is actually published I guess I'll have to wait. But this makes 3 possible large cats besides the Jaguar living in S. America right now (and no, I have not included the aquatic smiledon), so what the heck happend to all the cats in N. America?

We have one main big cat, the puma, which can be devided into the 2 subspecies,the Florida Panther and possibly the Onza. But N. America used to be populated with lots of big cats, everyone's favorite, Smiledon, the American Lion, the American Cheetah, the Jaguar, Homotherium , Cougars and Tigers.... it seems we aren't as cool as we used to be:(

Best,

Brett