3 millennium BC cave lion. Cave lion

Of all times. Previously, its status was not entirely clear, but today it is considered a clearly distinguishable subspecies of modern lions. It was first described by the German physician and naturalist Georg August Goldfus, who found the skull of a cave lion in the Franconian Alb.

In Soviet paleontology, on the initiative of Nikolai Vereshchagin, the cave lion was called tigrolev.

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Spreading

In Europe, the first lions appeared about 700,000 years ago and belonged to the subspecies Panthera leo fossilis, the so-called Mosbach lion. The fact that it is sometimes also called the cave lion can be misleading. As a rule, the term cave lion refers to a later subspecies Panthera leo spelaea. Mosbach lions reached a length of up to 2.4 m excluding the tail and were half a meter larger than modern lions. They were the size of a liger. From this large subspecies came the cave lion, which appeared about 300,000 years ago. It was distributed throughout northern Eurasia and even during glaciations penetrated deep to the north. In the northeast of Eurasia, a separate subspecies has formed, the so-called East Siberian cave lion ( Panthera leo vereshchagini), which reached the American continent through the then existing land connection between Chukotka and Alaska. Spreading south, it evolved into the American lion ( Panthera leo atrox). The East Siberian cave lion became extinct at the end of the last major glaciation about 10 thousand years ago. The European cave lion probably became extinct during the same period, but it is possible that it persisted for some time on the Balkan Peninsula. Regarding the lions that existed on it until the beginning of our era, it is unknown whether they were cave lions.

Appearance

The skeleton of an adult male cave lion, found in 1985 near Siegsdorf, Germany, had a height at the withers of 1.20 m and a length of 2.1 m excluding the tail. This corresponds to a very large modern lion. At the same time, the Siegsdorf lion was inferior to many of its relatives. Cave lions were on average 5-10% larger than modern lions, but did not reach the enormous size of Mosbach lions and American lions. Rock paintings from the Stone Age allow us to draw some conclusions about the coloring of the fur and mane of the cave lion. Particularly impressive images of lions were found in southern France in the Chauvet cave in the Ardèche department, as well as in the Vogelherdhöhle cave in the Swabian Alb. Ancient drawings of cave lions always show them without a mane, which suggests that, unlike their African or Indian relatives, they either did not have one, or it was not as impressive. Often this image shows the characteristic tuft on the tail of lions. The coloring of the fur, apparently, was one color.

Lifestyle

Relatives

Unlike the Mosbach lion, regarding the classification of which as Panthera leo fossilis There has always been unanimity among scientists; there has been a long debate about the cave lion, whether it is a lion, a tiger, or even whether it should be distinguished as a separate species. In 2004 ( P.l. vereshchagini) and American lion ( P.l. atrox). All modern subspecies of lions belong to the group Leo. Both groups separated about 600 thousand years ago. Some fossil specimens of the extinct American lion were larger than the Mosbach lion and were thus among the largest felines that ever existed. They were previously considered a separate species, called the giant jaguar. According to the latest research, the American lion, like the cave lion, was not a separate species, but a subspecies of lions (

Joseph Henri Roney Sr.

Cave lion

Abridged translation from French and Orlovskaya

Drawings by L. Durasov

Part one

Chapter 1 Un and Zur

Un, the son of the Bull, loved to visit underground caves. He caught blind fish and colorless crayfish there with Zur, the son of the Earth, the last of the Wa tribe, the Men Without Shoulders, who survived the extermination of his people by the Red Dwarfs.

Un and Zur wandered along the stream all day long underground river. Often its shore was just a narrow stone cornice. Sometimes we had to crawl through a narrow corridor of porphyry, gneiss, and basalt. Zur lit a resin torch from the branches of a turpentine tree, and the crimson flame was reflected in the sparkling quartz arches and in the rapidly flowing waters of the underground stream. Bending over the black water, they watched the pale, colorless animals swimming in it, then walked further, to the place where the road was blocked by a blank granite wall, from under which an underground river noisily burst out. Un and Zur stood for a long time in front of the black wall. How they wanted to overcome this mysterious barrier that the Ulamr tribe encountered six years ago, during their migration from north to south.

Un, the son of the Bull, belonged, according to the custom of the tribe, to his mother's brother. But he preferred his father Nao, the son of Leopard, from whom he inherited a powerful build, tireless lungs and extraordinary acuity of feelings. His hair fell over his shoulders in thick, coarse strands, like the mane of a wild horse; the eyes were the color of gray clay. His enormous physical strength made him a dangerous opponent. But even more than Nao, Un was inclined to be generous if the defeated person lay prostrate on the ground in front of him. Therefore, the Ulamrs, while paying tribute to Un's strength and courage, treated him with some disdain.

He always hunted alone or together with Zur, whom the Ulamrs despised for his weakness, although no one knew how skillfully to find stones suitable for making fire, and to make tinder from the soft core of a tree.

Zur had a narrow, flexible body, like a lizard. His shoulders were so sloping that his arms seemed to come straight out of his body. Since time immemorial, all the Vas, the tribe of Men Without Shoulders, have looked like this. Zur thought slowly, but his mind was more sophisticated than that of the people of the Ulamr tribe.

Zur loved being in underground caves even more than Un. His ancestors and the ancestors of his ancestors had always lived in lands abounding in streams and rivers, some of which disappeared under the hills or were lost in the depths of the mountain ranges.

One morning friends were wandering along the river bank. They saw the crimson ball of the sun rise above the horizon and the golden light flood the surrounding area. Zur knew that he liked to follow the rushing waves; Un, however, surrendered to this pleasure unconsciously. They headed towards the underground caves. The mountains rose right in front of them - high and inaccessible. Steep, sharp peaks stretched like an endless wall from north to south, and nowhere between them was there a passage visible. Un and Zur, like the entire Ulamr tribe, passionately dreamed of overcoming this indestructible barrier.

For more than fifteen years, the Ulamry, having left their native places, wandered from the northwest to the southeast. Moving south, they soon noticed that the further they went, the richer the land became, and the more abundant the spoils. And gradually people got used to this endless journey.

But a huge mountain range stood in their way, and the tribe’s advance to the south stopped. The Ulamrs searched in vain for a passage among the impregnable stone peaks.

Un and Zur sat down to rest in the reeds, under the black poplars. Three mammoths, huge and majestic, walked along the opposite bank of the river. Antelopes could be seen running in the distance; the rhinoceros appeared from behind a rocky ledge. Excitement took over Nao's son. How he wanted to overcome the space separating him from his prey!

Sighing, he stood up and walked upstream, followed by Zur. Soon they found themselves in front of a dark hole in the rock, from which a river was noisily gushing out. Bats rushed into the darkness, frightened by the appearance of people.

Excited by a thought that suddenly came into his head, Un said to Zur:

There are other lands beyond the mountains!

Zur replied:

The river flows from sunny countries.

People without shoulders have long known that all rivers and streams have a beginning and an end.

The blue darkness of the cave gave way to the darkness of an underground labyrinth. Xur lit one of the resinous branches he had taken with him. But the friends could do without light - they knew every turn of the underground path so well.

Un and Zur walked all day through gloomy passages along the course of an underground river, jumping over pits and crevices, and in the evening they fell soundly asleep on the shore, having dined on crayfish baked in ash.

At night they were awakened by a sudden shock that seemed to come from the very depths of the mountain. The roar of falling stones and the crackling of crumbling rocks could be heard. Then there was silence. And, not being able to figure out what was going on, the friends fell asleep again.

Vague memories took possession of Zur.

The earth shook,” he said.

Un did not understand Zur’s words and did not try to understand their meaning. His thoughts were short and swift. He could only think about the obstacles that were immediately in front of him, or the prey he was pursuing. His impatience grew, and he quickened his steps, so that Zur could barely keep up with him. Long before the end of the second day they reached the place where a blank stone wall usually blocked their path.

Xur lit a new resinous torch. A bright flame illuminated the high wall, reflected in countless fractures of the quartz rock.

An astonished exclamation escaped both young men: there was a wide crack in the stone wall!

This is because the earth shook,” said Zur.

With one leap, Un found himself at the edge of the crack. The passage was wide enough to let a person through. Un knew what treacherous traps lurked in the newly split rocks. But his impatience was so great that he, without thinking, squeezed into the blackened stone gap in front of him, so narrow that it was possible to move forward with great difficulty. Zur followed the son of the Bull. Love for his friend made him forget his natural caution.

Soon the passage became so narrow and low that they could barely squeeze between the stones, bent over, almost crawling. The air was hot and stuffy, it was becoming more and more difficult to breathe... Suddenly a sharp ledge of a rock blocked their path.

Before humans climbed to the top of the food chain, wild cats were the most powerful and successful hunters. Even today, these huge predators evoke fear and at the same time admiration in a person who is not their competitor in the hunt. And yet, prehistoric cats were much better in all respects, especially when it comes to hunting. Today's article presents the 10 largest prehistoric felines.

The prehistoric cheetah belongs to the same genus as today's cheetahs. His appearance was very similar to the appearance of a modern cheetah, but its ancestor was many times larger. The giant cheetah was more reminiscent of a modern lion in size, because its weight sometimes reached 150 kilograms, so the cheetah easily hunted larger animals. According to some data, ancient cheetahs were capable of accelerating at speeds of up to 115 kilometers per hour. The wild cat lived in the territory of modern Europe and Asia, but could not survive the Ice Age.

This dangerous animal does not exist today, but there was a time when xenosmylus, along with others predatory cats headed the planet's food chain. Outwardly he very much resembled saber tooth tiger, however, unlike it, xenosmilus had much shorter teeth, which were similar to the teeth of a shark or predatory dinosaur. The formidable predator hunted from ambush, after which it instantly killed the prey, tearing off pieces of meat from it. Xenosmilus was very large, sometimes its weight reached 230 kilograms. Little is known about the habitat of the beast. The only place where his remains were found was Florida.

Currently, jaguars are not particularly large in size; as a rule, their weight is only 55-100 kilograms. As it turned out, they were not always like this. In the distant past, the modern territory of Southern and North America filled with giant jaguars. Unlike the modern jaguar, they had longer tails and limbs, and their size was several times larger. According to scientists, the animals lived on open plains together with lions and some other wild cats, and as a result of constant competition they were forced to change their place of residence to more wooded areas. The size of a giant jaguar was equal to a modern tiger.

If giant jaguars belonged to the same genus as modern ones, then European jaguars belonged to a completely different one. Unfortunately, today it is still not known what the European jaguar looked like, but some information about it is still known. For example, scientists claim that the weight of this cat was more than 200 kilograms, and its habitat was countries such as Germany, England, the Netherlands, France and Spain.

This lion is considered a subspecies of lion. Cave lions were incredibly large in size, and their weight reached 300 kilograms. Scary predators lived in Europe after ice age, where they were considered one of the most dangerous creatures on the planet. Some sources say that these animals were sacred animals, so they were worshiped by many peoples, and perhaps they were simply feared. Scientists have repeatedly found various figurines and drawings depicting a cave lion. It is known that cave lions did not have a mane.

One of the most terrible and dangerous representatives wild cats prehistoric times - this is homotherium. The predator lived in the countries of Europe, Asia, Africa, South and North America. The animal adapted so well to the tundra climate that it could live for more than 5 million years. The appearance of Homotherium was noticeably different from the appearance of all wild cats. The forelimbs of this giant were much longer than the hind limbs, which made him look like a hyena. This structure suggests that Homotherium was not a very good jumper, especially unlike modern cats. Although Homotherium cannot be called the most, its weight reached a record 400 kilograms. This suggests that the animal was larger than even a modern tiger.

The appearance of a mahairod is similar to that of a tiger, but it is much larger, with more long tail and huge fang-knives. Whether he had the stripes characteristic of a tiger is still not known. The remains of the mahairod were found in Africa, which indicates its place of residence; in addition, archaeologists are convinced that this wild cat was one of the largest of those times. The weight of the mahairod reached half a ton, and in size it resembled modern horse. The predator's diet consisted of rhinoceroses, elephants and other large herbivores. According to most scholars, the appearance of the mahairod is most accurately depicted in the film 10,000 BC.

Of all known to mankind wild cats of prehistoric times, the American lion is second in popularity after Smilodon. Lions lived on the territory of modern Northern and South America, and became extinct about 11 thousand years ago at the very end of the Ice Age. Many scientists are convinced that this giant predator was related to today's lion. The weight of an American lion could reach 500 kilograms. There is a lot of controversy about its hunting, but most likely the animal hunted alone.

The most mysterious animal on the entire list was in second place among the largest cats. This tiger is not a separate species; most likely, it is a distant relative of the modern tiger. These giants lived in Asia, where they hunted very large herbivores. Everyone knows that today tigers are the largest representatives of the cat family, but such large tigers as in prehistoric times, today it’s not even close. The Pleistocene tiger was unusually large in size, and according to the remains found, it lived even in Russia.

Most famous representative cat family of prehistoric times. Smilodon had huge teeth that looked like sharp knives, and a muscular body with short legs. His body slightly resembled that of modern bear, though he didn’t have the clumsiness that a bear has. The amazingly built body of the predator allowed him to run with high speed even over long distances. Smilodon died out about 10 thousand years ago, which means they lived at the same time as humans, and perhaps even hunted them. Scientists believe that Smilodon attacked prey from an ambush.

Joseph Henri Roney Sr.

Cave lion

Abridged translation from French and Orlovskaya

Drawings by L. Durasov

Part one

Chapter 1 Un and Zur

Un, the son of the Bull, loved to visit underground caves. He caught blind fish and colorless crayfish there with Zur, the son of the Earth, the last of the Wa tribe, the Men Without Shoulders, who survived the extermination of his people by the Red Dwarfs.

For days Un and Zur wandered along the course of the underground river. Often its shore was just a narrow stone cornice. Sometimes we had to crawl through a narrow corridor of porphyry, gneiss, and basalt. Zur lit a resin torch from the branches of a turpentine tree, and the crimson flame was reflected in the sparkling quartz arches and in the rapidly flowing waters of the underground stream. Bending over the black water, they watched the pale, colorless animals swimming in it, then walked further, to the place where the road was blocked by a blank granite wall, from under which an underground river noisily burst out. Un and Zur stood for a long time in front of the black wall. How they wanted to overcome this mysterious barrier that the Ulamr tribe encountered six years ago, during their migration from north to south.

Un, the son of the Bull, belonged, according to the custom of the tribe, to his mother's brother. But he preferred his father Nao, the son of Leopard, from whom he inherited a powerful build, tireless lungs and extraordinary acuity of feelings. His hair fell over his shoulders in thick, coarse strands, like the mane of a wild horse; the eyes were the color of gray clay. His enormous physical strength made him a dangerous opponent. But even more than Nao, Un was inclined to be generous if the defeated person lay prostrate on the ground in front of him. Therefore, the Ulamrs, while paying tribute to Un's strength and courage, treated him with some disdain.

He always hunted alone or together with Zur, whom the Ulamrs despised for his weakness, although no one knew how skillfully to find stones suitable for making fire, and to make tinder from the soft core of a tree.

Zur had a narrow, flexible body, like a lizard. His shoulders were so sloping that his arms seemed to come straight out of his body. Since time immemorial, all the Vas, the tribe of Men Without Shoulders, have looked like this. Zur thought slowly, but his mind was more sophisticated than that of the people of the Ulamr tribe.

Zur loved being in underground caves even more than Un. His ancestors and the ancestors of his ancestors had always lived in lands abounding in streams and rivers, some of which disappeared under the hills or were lost in the depths of the mountain ranges.

One morning friends were wandering along the river bank. They saw the crimson ball of the sun rise above the horizon and the golden light flood the surrounding area. Zur knew that he liked to follow the rushing waves; Un, however, surrendered to this pleasure unconsciously. They headed towards the underground caves. The mountains rose right in front of them - high and inaccessible. Steep, sharp peaks stretched like an endless wall from north to south, and nowhere between them was there a passage visible. Un and Zur, like the entire Ulamr tribe, passionately dreamed of overcoming this indestructible barrier.

For more than fifteen years, the Ulamry, having left their native places, wandered from the northwest to the southeast. Moving south, they soon noticed that the further they went, the richer the land became, and the more abundant the spoils. And gradually people got used to this endless journey.

But a huge mountain range stood in their way, and the tribe’s advance to the south stopped. The Ulamrs searched in vain for a passage among the impregnable stone peaks.

Un and Zur sat down to rest in the reeds, under the black poplars. Three mammoths, huge and majestic, walked along the opposite bank of the river. Antelopes could be seen running in the distance; the rhinoceros appeared from behind a rocky ledge. Excitement took over Nao's son. How he wanted to overcome the space separating him from his prey!

Sighing, he stood up and walked upstream, followed by Zur. Soon they found themselves in front of a dark hole in the rock, from which a river was noisily gushing out. The bats darted into the darkness, frightened by the appearance of people.

Excited by a thought that suddenly came into his head, Un said to Zur:

There are other lands beyond the mountains!

Zur replied:

The river flows from sunny countries.

People without shoulders have long known that all rivers and streams have a beginning and an end.

The blue darkness of the cave gave way to the darkness of an underground labyrinth. Xur lit one of the resinous branches he had taken with him. But the friends could do without light - they knew every turn of the underground path so well.

Un and Zur walked all day through gloomy passages along the course of an underground river, jumping over pits and crevices, and in the evening they fell soundly asleep on the shore, having dined on crayfish baked in ash.

At night they were awakened by a sudden shock that seemed to come from the very depths of the mountain. The roar of falling stones and the crackling of crumbling rocks could be heard. Then there was silence. And, not being able to figure out what was going on, the friends fell asleep again.

Vague memories took possession of Zur.

The earth shook,” he said.

Un did not understand Zur’s words and did not try to understand their meaning. His thoughts were short and swift. He could only think about the obstacles that were immediately in front of him, or the prey he was pursuing. His impatience grew, and he quickened his steps, so that Zur could barely keep up with him. Long before the end of the second day they reached the place where a blank stone wall usually blocked their path.

Xur lit a new resinous torch. A bright flame illuminated the high wall, reflected in countless fractures of the quartz rock.

An astonished exclamation escaped both young men: there was a wide crack in the stone wall!

This is because the earth shook,” said Zur.

With one leap, Un found himself at the edge of the crack. The passage was wide enough to let a person through. Un knew what treacherous traps lurked in the newly split rocks. But his impatience was so great that he, without thinking, squeezed into the blackened stone gap in front of him, so narrow that it was possible to move forward with great difficulty. Zur followed the son of the Bull. Love for his friend made him forget his natural caution.

Soon the passage became so narrow and low that they could barely squeeze between the stones, bent over, almost crawling. The air was hot and stuffy, it was becoming more and more difficult to breathe... Suddenly a sharp ledge of a rock blocked their path.

Angered, Un pulled a stone ax from his belt and struck it at the rocky ledge with such force as if there was an enemy in front of him. The rock shook, and the young men realized that it could be moved. Zur, sticking his torch into a crevice in the wall, began to help Un. The rock began to shake more. They pushed her with all their might. There was a crash, stones fell... The rock swayed and... they heard the dull sound of a heavy block falling. The path was clear.

Having rested a little, the friends moved on. The passage gradually widened. Soon Un and Zur were able to straighten up to their full height, and it became easier to breathe. Finally they found themselves in a vast cave. Un rushed forward with all his might, but soon the darkness forced him to stop: Zur with his torch could not keep up with his fleet-footed friend. But the delay was short-lived. The impatience of the Bull's son was transmitted to the Man without Shoulders, and they moved on with long steps, almost running.

Soon a faint light appeared ahead. It intensified as the young men approached him. Suddenly Un and Zur found themselves at the exit of the cave. In front of them stretched a narrow corridor formed by two sheer granite walls. Above, high above our heads, a strip of dazzling blue sky was visible.

During excavations in northern Kenya, an international group of scientists discovered the remains of a lion that lived in Africa more than 200 thousand years ago during the Pleistocene era. The study revealed that the animal was much larger than its long-extinct and living African relatives. Dedicated work published in the Journal of Paleontology.

African cave lions were as tall as a man

American and Kenyan experts measured the size of the skull and teeth of a lion that lived in Kenya more than 200 thousand years ago. It turned out that the animal was several times larger than its African relatives and reached the size of Pleistocene lions from America, Europe and Siberia. Scientists believe that this subspecies was previously unknown to science.

“This skull is the first evidence that in the middle and late Pleistocene in eastern Africa there were giant lions, whose size may have been due to the greater mass of megafauna (a set of animal species whose body weight exceeds 40-45 kg), the authors of the work say . - The skull is remarkable for its large size, equal to the parameters of the largest cave lion skull in Eurasia and much larger than famous skulls from Africa,” they conclude.

Cave lions

Note that Pleistocene lions living in the north, namely in America, Europe and Eastern Siberia, were very different from lions from Africa and Southeast Asia. In particular, they were 1.5 times larger than their southern relatives.

The Mosbach lion, living in Eurasia, is considered the largest cat known to science today. By the way, it reached a length of 3.7 m and weighed 400-430 kg. The American lion was not much smaller than the Mosbach lion: the length of its body including its tail reached 3.7 m, and it weighed about 400 kg. East Siberian lionweighed 180-270 kg and reached a length of 2.40 m without a tail.