| Cave lion Fossil range: Pleistocene | ||||||||||||||||
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| Panthera leo spelaea Goldfuss, 1810 |
The cave lion (Panthera leo spelaea) also known as the European or Eurasian cave lion, is an extinct subspecies of lion known from fossils and a wide variety of prehistoric art.
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Physical characteristics
This subspecies was one of the largest lions. An adult male, which was found in 1985 near Siegsdorf (Germany), had a shoulder height of around 1.2 m and a length of 2.1 m without a tail, which is about the same size as a very big modern lion. This male was even exceeded by other specimens of this subspecies. Therefore this cat may have been around 5-10% bigger than modern lions, but it didn't reach the measures of the earlier cave lion subspecies Panthera leo fossilis or those of the huge American lion (Panthera leo atrox).[1] The cave lion is known from Paleolithic cave paintings, ivory carvings, and clay busts. These representations indicate that cave lions had protruding ears, tufted tails, faint tiger-like stripes, and that at least some males had a "ruff" or primitive mane around their neck. Other artifacts indicate that they played a role in Paleolithic religions.
Environment
They likely preyed on the large, herbivorous animals of their time, including horses and bison. Their extinction may have been related to the Holocene extinction event, which wiped out most of their megafauna prey. Cave paintings and remains found in the refuse piles of ancient camp sites indicate that they were hunted by early humans, which may have also contributed to their demise. Fossil footprints of lions, which were found together with those of reindeer, demonstrate that these cats once occurred even in subpolar climates.
Classification
It is normally considered a subspecies of lion, with the scientific name of Panthera leo spelaea (which means "cave lion" in Latin); but it is occasionally considered a species in its own right, under the name Panthera spelaea. 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 (Groiss, 1996). However, recent genetic work (Burger 2004) shows that it was a close but separate relative of the modern lion.
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. It apparently became extinct about 10,000 years ago, during the Würm glaciation, though there are some indications it may have existed as recently as 2,000 years ago, in the Balkans.[2] It ranged across Europe and Asia, from Great Britain all the way to the Bering Strait and from Siberia to Turkistan.
References
- Burger, Joachim et al. (2004): Molecular phylogeny of the extinct cave lion Panthera leo spelaea. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. Vol.30, p.841-849. PDF fulltext
- Groiss, J. Th. (1996): Der Höhlentiger Panthera tigris spelaea (Goldfuss). Neues Jahrb. Geol. Paläont. Mh. Vol.7, p.399–414.
- ^ W. v. Koenigswald: Lebendige Eiszeit. Theiss-Verlag, 2002. ISBN 3-8062-1734-3
- ^ Wild cats of the world by C A W Guggisberg (1975) ISBN 0800883241 and Pleistocene mammals of Europe by Björn Kurtén (1968) [not seen]
See also
External links
- Prehistoric cats and prehistoric cat-like creatures, from the Messybeast Cat Resource Archive.
- American lion, by C. R. Harrington, from Yukon Beringia Interpretative Center.
- The mammoth and the flood, volume 5, chapter 1, by Hans Krause.
- Hoyle and cavetigers, from the Dinosaur Mailing List. (Groiss)
- The Interaction of the European Cave Lion and Primitive Humans
