Facts and Figures About the Cave Lion

Facts and Figures About the Cave Lion The cave lion is a subspecies of lion that went extinct around 12,400 years ago. It was one of the largest subspecies of a lion to have ever lived. Scientists believe it was as much as ten percent larger than modern lions. Its often depicted in cave paintings as having some kind of collar fluff and possibly stripes. Cave Lion Basics Scientific Name:  Panthera leo spelaeaHabitat: Woodlands and mountains of EurasiaHistorical Period: Late Pleistocene-Modern (500,000-2,000 years ago)Size and Weight: Up to 7-8 feet long and 700-800 poundsDiet: MeatDistinguishing Characteristics: Large size; powerful limbs; possibly manes and stripes About the Cave Lion (Panthera Leo Spelaea) One of the most feared predators of the late Pleistocene epoch, the Cave Lion (Panthera leo spelaea) is technically classified as a subspecies of Panthera leo, the modern lion. This was discovered by a genetic sequencing of the cave lions fossil remains. Essentially, this was a plus-sized cat that roamed the vast expanse of Eurasia. It feasted on a wide array of mammalian megafauna including prehistoric horses and prehistoric elephants. The cave lion was also a voracious predator of the cave bear, Ursus spelaeus; in fact, this cat received its name not because it lived in caves, but because numerous intact skeletons have been found in Cave Bear habitats. Cave lions preyed opportunistically on hibernating cave bears, which must have seemed like a good idea until their intended victims woke up! Extinction As is the case with many prehistoric predators, its unclear why the cave lion vanished off the face of the earth about 2,000 years ago. Its possible that it was hunted to extinction by the early human settlers of Eurasia, who would have had a vested interest in banding together and eliminating any cave lions in the immediate vicinity. These same humans regarded the cave lion with reverence and awe, as evidenced by numerous cave paintings. But its more likely that the cave lion succumbed to a combination of climate change and the disappearance of its usual prey; after all, small bands of Homo sapiens could more easily over-hunt prehistoric deer, pigs, and another mammalian megafauna  than these huge, fanged predators. In October 2015, researchers in Siberia made an astonishing discovery: a group of frozen cave lion kittens, dating to about 10,000 B.C. One of them still had its fur intact. While its not uncommon for explorers to stumble across quick-frozen wooly mammoths, this is the first time a prehistoric cat has been found in permafrost. It opens up entirely new avenues of investigation into life during the late Pleistocene epoch: for instance, laboratory technicians may be able to analyze the mothers milk recently ingested by the kittens and thus discern their mothers diet. It also may be possible to recover fragments of DNA from the cave kittens soft tissues, which could, conceivably, one day facilitate the de-extinction of Panthera leo spelaea.