CAVE LION

Panthera spelaea, formerly referred to as Panthera leo spelaea, is a fossil cat belonging to the genus Panthera, which was described by the German paleontologist Georg August Goldfuss in 1810 under the scientific name Felis spelaea. The first fossil lion skull was excavated in a cave in southern Germany. It probably dates to the Würm glaciation.

The spelaea lion probably evolved in Europe after the third Cromerian interglacial stage, less than 600,000 years ago. Phylogenetic analysis of fossil bone samples revealed that it was highly distinct and genetically isolated from the modern  occurring in Africa and Asia. It became extinct about 13,000 years ago. The oldest known spelaea lion bone fragments were excavated in Yakutia and radiocarbon dated at least 62,400 years old. Considerable morphological differences and mitochondrial data support the taxonomic recognition of the spelaealion as a distinct species. The spelaea lion evolved in the late Saalian glaciation or early Eemian from the earlier P. fossilis, which first appeared in Eurasia about 700,000 years ago. P. spelaea bone fragments excavated in Poland were radiocarbon dated to between the early and late Weichselian glaciation, and are between 109,000 and 57,000 years old. In Eurasia, it became extinct between 14,900 and 14,100 years ago, and survived in Beringia until 13,800 to 13,300 years ago as the Weichselian glaciation receded.

Mitochondrial DNA sequence data from fossil lion remains show that the American lion represents a sister group of P. spelaea, and likely arose when an early P. spelaea population became isolated south of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet about 340,000 years ago. The following cladogram shows the genetic relationship between P. spelaea and other pantherine cats.

1. spelaeais known from Paleolithic cave paintings, ivory carvings, and clay figurines. These archaeological artifacts indicate that it may have been featured in Paleolithic religiousrituals. A drawing in France’s Chauvet cave, estimated to be 30,000 years old, depicts two cave lions walking together. The one in the foreground is slightly smaller than the one in the background, which has been drawn with a scrotum and without a mane. Probably, male cave lions completely lacked manes, or had very small manes at most.

The spelaea cave lion is considered to have been one of the largest lions. The skeleton of an adult male found in 1985 near Siegsdorf in Germany had a shoulder height of around 1.2 m (3.9 ft) and a head-body length of 2.1 m (6.9 ft) without the tail. This is similar to the size of a very large modern lion. The size of this male was exceeded by other spelaea specimens. Therefore, this cat may have been over 10% bigger than modern lions and smaller than the earlier fossilis cave lion or the American lion. Females were smaller than males.

In 2016, hair found near Maly Anyuy River was identified as spelaea cave lion hair through DNA analysis. Comparison with hair of an African lion revealed that cave lion hair was probably similar in colour as that of the modern lion, though slightly lighter. In addition, the cave lion is thought to have had a very thick and dense undercoat comprising closed and compressed yellowish-to-white wavy downy hair with a smaller mass of darker coloured guard hairs, possibly an adaptation to the ice age climate.