The cave lion was one of the largest living lions. Some males approached 400 pounds (181 kg), with females—as always in the big cat family—being slightly smaller. Oddly enough, this lion didn't live in dark grottoes; it earned its name because various individuals were unearthed in dank European caves, which Panthera leo spelaea packs raided in search of bear-sized meals. The Cape lion, Panthera leo melanochaitus, holds a tenuous position in the big-cat classification books; some naturalists maintain that it shouldn't count as a Panthera leo subspecies at all and was, in fact, a mere geographical offshoot of the still-extant but dwindling Transvaal lion of South Africa. A few fossilized bones of a European lion were found next to the fossils of reindeer, which means that it also lived in subpolar regions. Barbary lion males possessed especially large manes, and they were among the largest lions of historical times, weighing as much as 500 pounds (227 kg) apiece. On the basis of a number of finds, however, it was proved that this animal was bigger than today’s species representatives by 8-10%, but smaller than its ancestor – Panthera leo fossilis.

The species evolved from an ancestor known today as Panthera leo fossilis. It means that with a limited access to food, only small groups of these predators could survive. Its current range is restricted to the Gir National Park and environs in the Indian state of Gujarat.Historically, it inhabited much of Western Asia and the Middle East up to northern India. This population occurred in Barbary Coastal regions of Maghreb from the Atlas Mountains to Egypt and was eradicated following the spreading of firearms and bounties for shooting lions. Of all the big cats that have gone extinct over the last 100 years, the Caspian tiger (Panthera tigris virgata) occupied the largest expanse of territory, ranging from Iran to the Caucasus to the vast, windswept steppes of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

What is the name of agent 007? But on the European continent, lions seemed to have gone extinct well before the historical era (e.g. the prehistoric cave lion, fossil finds from the Iberian peninsula and Hungary), with a report by Herodotus about Xerxes’ camels being attacked by lions roaming the Balkans dismissed as fancy (Hdt. Unlike the Bali tiger, though, the Javan tiger succumbed not to relentless hunting by settlers bent on preserving their livestock but to relentless encroachment on its territory, as the human population of Java exploded during the 19th and 20th centuries and continues to grow today. The Latin term spelaea means “cave”, and atrox may be translated as “cruel”/”dreadful”. There is a theory that says that European lions (Panthera leo europea), similar to Asian lions (Panthera leo persica) could have been the last cave lions (Panthera leo spelaea) that had survived in Europe to 3,000 B.C. Apart from the date of their extinction, it can be stated, that big competition with new predators, mostly wolves and early humans contributed to the extinction. Lions are most active at night and live in a variety of habitats but prefer grassland, savanna, dense scrub, and open woodland. This was one of the most dangerous predators of the Pleistocene epoch, capable of sinking its canines into large megafauna mammals and cruelly waiting nearby as its victims bled to death. It was also estimated that the lion weighed 200-350 kg (440lb – 771lb). The European lions were closely related to the Asian lions, and i think they have displaced the archaic Cave lions in Europe by late Pleistocene or early Holocene. Three lions are the symbol for England. Although European cave lions did not have impressive manes, they ruled areas of Europe and Asia, becoming the hallmark of the Pleistocene landscape, like today lions in Africa. F. W. Bond (d. 1942)/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain. Still, given its enduring place in the popular imagination, Smilodon at least merits a mention. It is presumed that small populations of these lions survived until the Holocene, namely, the next 10,000 years after the last glaciation.

The ‘mountain’ lion of 1000 years ago was the Asiatic sub-species of Panthera leo – the traditionally understood lion (eg of Africa and cave-lion of European fossil history), and the photo you have is of a puma (Felis concolor) which is not closely related and from the Americas only. LCI and LCIF are EEO providers. Similar dilemmas appear when people try to classify the American lion – it is difficult to explicitly determine whether it is a separate species of the lion or the subspecies of the modern-day African lion. The European lion (Panthera leo europaea or Panthera leo tartarica) could be an extinct subspecies of lion that inhabited southern Europe until historic times. Your email address will not be published.

One of the more fearsome subspecies of Panthera leo, the Barbary lion (Panthera leo leo) was a prized possession of medieval British lords who wanted a novel way to intimidate their serfs; a few large, shaggy individuals even made their way from northern Africa to the menagerie of the Tower of London, where countless British aristocrats were imprisoned and executed. The proverbial ‘king of the beasts,’ the lion has been one of the best-known wild animals since earliest times. My name is .... James ...."*, © Copyright DinoAnimals 2012 - 2020, All Rights Reserved, Cheetah – the fastest land animal in the world, Cobras – characteristics and useful information, Golden Retriever – the most beautiful dog, Koala – the marsupial which does not drink water, Tiger shark – one of the most dangerous sharks, Hammerhead shark – fish with exceptional head, Alligator snapping turtle – powerful jaws, Argentavis magnificens – the largest flying bird in the history, The longest Pachycephalosaurs (Pachycephalosauria) TOP 10, The fastest animals in the world – Top 10. Probably it died out about 12,500 years ago, after the last glaciation, also called the Weichselian glaciation (Weichselian ice age or Vistulian glaciation). However, it also caused problems because a defensive mother would be a lethal threat for the intruder. However, scientists have doubted that the predators actually lived in those caves. The most accepted theory is that the European lions were of the same subspecies than the Asian lion in general (. Thus, it is assumed, that maned lions got from Africa to Eurasia in the Holocene. This website uses cookies for functionality, analytics and advertising purposes as described in our. Like its close relative in oblivion, the Bali tiger, the Javan Tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica) was restricted to a single island in the vast Indonesian archipelago.

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