 The cougar and <unk> are most closely related to the modern cheetah of Africa and western Asia , but the relationship is unresolved . The cheetah lineage is suggested by some studies to have diverged from the Puma lineage in the Americas ( see American cheetah ) and migrated back to Asia and Africa , while other research suggests the cheetah diverged in the Old World itself . The outline of small feline migration to the Americas is thus unclear . 
