Cave Lion

Scientific classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Felidae
Genus: Panthera
Species: P. leo
Subspecies: †P. l. spelaea

Trinomial name:

Panthera leo spelaea
Goldfuss, 1810

Physical characteristics:

• This subspecies was one of the largest lions. The remains of an adult male, which was found in 1985 near Siegsdorf in Germany, had a shoulder height of around 1.2 m (4 ft) and a body length of 2.1 m (7 ft) without the tail.

• This is similar to the size of a very large modern lion. The size of this male has been exceeded by other specimens of this subspecies. Therefore this cat may have been approximately 5-33% larger than modern lions, and maybe even larger than the largest extant cat, the Siberian tiger, Panthera tigris altaica, but it was smaller than the earlier cave lion subspecies, Panthera leo fossilis, and the even larger American lion, Panthera leo atrox[1][2].

• Their body colour possibly varied from a ochre-tinted grey to dark ochre brown on the upperparts of the body, while the rest of the coat was light brown.

• The cave lion is known from Paleolithic cave paintings, ivory carvings, and clay figurines. These representations indicate that cave lions had rounded, protruding ears, tufted tails, possibly faint tiger-like stripes, and that at least some had a "ruff" or primitive mane around their neck, indicating males. Other archaeological artifacts indicate that they were featured in Paleolithic religious rituals.

Environment:

• The cave lion received its common name from the fact that large quantities of its remains are found in caves [3], but it is doubtful whether they lived in them.

• It had a wide habitat tolerance, but probably preferred conifer forests and grasslands [4], where medium-sized to large herbivores occurred. Fossil footprints of lions, which were found together with those of reindeer, demonstrate that these cats once occurred even in subpolar climates.

• These active carnivores [3] probably preyed upon the large, herbivorous animals of their time, including horses, deer and bison. Some paintings of them in caves show several hunting together, which suggests the hunting strategy of contemporary lionesses.
  

• Small prey was usually brought down with a blow of the front paw and then held down with both front feet. The animal was finally killed by a powerful bite of the sharp teeth [1], at the back of the neck, in the region of the throat and even in the chest.

• A cave lion usually could not run as fast as its prey, but could pounce on it from behind or run up next to it and bring it down with the paws. In this manner a running animal's balance could very easily be disturbed.

• It was most likely the most common predator (after the cave hyena) in plains ecosystems.[citation needed] Its extinction may have been related to the Quaternary extinction event, which wiped out most of the megafauna prey in those regions.[citation needed] Cave paintings and remains found in the refuse piles of ancient camp sites indicate that they were hunted by early humans, which also may have contributed to their demise.[citation needed]
  
  

Classification:

• The cave lion is normally considered a subspecies of lion, with the scientific name of Panthera leo spelaea (which means "cave lion" in Latin).

• Occasionally it is considered a species in its own right, under the name Panthera spelaea, and at least one authority, based on a comparison of skull shapes, considers the cave lion to be more closely related to the tiger, which would result in the formal name Panthera tigris spelaea.[5] However, recent genetic research shows that it was a close, but separate, relative of the modern lion.[6]

History and distribution:

• The cave lion (Panthera leo spelea) was derived from the earlier subspecies Panthera leo fossilis, which first appeared in Europe about 700,000 years ago. The cave lion itself lived from 370,000 to 10,000 years ago, during the Pleistocene epoch.

• Apparently, it became extinct about 10,000 years ago [4][1], during the Würm glaciation, although there are some indications it may have existed into historic times in southeastern Europe, as recently as 2,000 years ago in the Balkans.[7]

• Cave lions were widespread in parts of Europe and Asia, from Great Britain, Germany and France (Arduini & Teruzzi, 1993) all the way to the Bering Strait and from Siberia to Turkistan.