THIS. In fact, I have come across
Traveller players on more than one occasion who think that Aslan are actual Terran
Felid uplifts like Vargr are
Canid uplifts. They're not - they are a completely natively-evolved alien species originating on Kusyu *.
* Though there is an interesting comment in T4: Aliens Vol.1 that suggests that Kusyu suffered from a major environmental change (including atmospheric composition) about 1.8 Mya causing mass extinctions, and that Aslan-precursors (and precursors to other current native Kusyu life forms) do not appear before this time. This may or may not be related to the White (Degenerate) Dwarf star that is the current close-companion of Tyeyo (Kusyu's primary star).