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Panthera spelaea, also known as the cave lion or steppe lion, is an extinct Panthera species that most likely evolved in Europe after the third Cromerian interglacial stage, less than 600,000 years ago. Genetic analysis of ancient DNA has revealed that while closely related, it was a distinct species genetically isolated from the modern lion (Panthera leo) occurring in Africa and Asia, with the genetic divergence between the two species variously estimated between 1.9 million and 600,000 years ago. It is closely related and probably ancestral to the American lion (Panthera atrox). The species ranged from Western Europe to eastern Beringia in North America, and was a prominent member of the mammoth steppe fauna. It became extinct about 13,000 years ago. Taxonomy Felis spelaea was the scientific name used by Georg August Goldfuss in 1810 for a fossil lion skull that was excavated in a cave in southern Germany. It possibly dates to the Würm glaciation. Several authors regarded Panthera spelaea as a subspecies of the modern lion, and therefore as Panthera leo spelaea. One author considered the cave lion to be more closely related to the tiger based on a comparison of skull shapes, and proposed the scientific name Panthera tigris spelaea. Results from morphological studies showed that it is distinct in cranial and dental anatomy to justify the specific status of Panthera spelaea. Results of phylogenetic studies also support this assessment. In 2001, the subspecies Panthera spelaea vereshchagini was proposed for seven specimens found in Siberia and Yukon, which have smaller skulls and teeth than the average P. spelaea. Before 2020, genetic analysis using ancient DNA provided no evidence for their distinct subspecific status; DNA signatures from P. spelaea from Europe and Alaska were indistinguishable, suggesting one large panmictic population. However, analysis of mitochondrial genome sequences from 31 cave lions showed that they fall into two monophyletic clades. One lived across western Europe and the other was restricted to Beringia during the Pleistocene. For this reason, the Beringian population is considered a distinct subspecies, P. s. vereshchagini. Evolution Lion-like pantherine felids first appeared in the Tanzanian Olduvai Gorge about 1.7 to 1.2 million years ago. These cats dispersed to Europe from East Africa in the first half of the Middle Pleistocene, giving rise to P. fossilis in Central Europe by 610,000 years ago. Panthera spelaea evolved from P. fossilis about 460,000 years ago in central Europe during the late Saalian glaciation or early Eemian and would have been common throughout Eurasia from 450,000 to 14,000 years ago. Recent nuclear genomic evidence suggest that interbreeding between modern lions and all Eurasian fossil lions took place up until 500,000 years ago, but by 470,000 years ago, no subsequent interbreeding between the two lineages occurred. 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. Characteristics Carvings and cave paintings of cave lions, which were discovered in the Lascaux and Chauvet Caves in France, were dated to 15,000 to 17,000 years old. A drawing in the Chauvet cave 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. Such cave paintings suggest that male cave lions completely lacked manes, or at most had very small manes. P. spelaea is also known from the Löwenmensch figurine found in Vogelherd cave in the Swabian Alb, southwest Germany, which dates to the Aurignacian culture. These archaeological artifacts indicate that it may have been featured in Paleolithic religious rituals. P. spelaea was thought to have been one of the largest lion species. The skeleton of an adult male found in 1985 near Siegsdorf in Germany had a shoulder height of around 1.2 m (3 ft 11 in) and a head-body length of 2 m (6 ft 7 in) without the tail, similar in size to large modern lions. The size of this male was exceeded by other specimens, with another male reaching 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) long without the tail. Similarly, footprints attributed to a male cave lion measured 15 cm (6 in) across. The heaviest Panthera spelaea was estimated to weigh 339 kg (747 lb). This shows that P. spelaea would have been up to or over 12% larger than modern lions, but still smaller than the earlier Panthera fossilis or the American lion (P. atrox). Cave paintings almost exclusively show hunting animals without a mane, suggesting that males were indeed maneless. P. spelaea had a relatively longer and narrower muzzle compared to that of the extant lion. Despite this, the two species do not exhibit major differences in morphology. Like modern lions, females were smaller than males. In 2016, hair found near the Maly Anyuy River was identified as cave lion hair through DNA analysis. Comparison with hair of a modern 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. Distribution and habitat P. spelaea formed a contiguous population from western Europe to the Yukon over the Bering land bridge, across the range of the mammoth steppe. It was widely distributed in the Iberian Peninsula, Southeast Europe, Great Britain, Central Europe, the East European Plain, the Ural Mountains, and across most of northern Eurasia into Alaska and Yukon. The cave lion had a wide elevation range as well; in Slovakia, skull, femur and pelvis remains were excavated in ten Karst caves in hilly and montane areas at elevations from 240 to 1,133 m (787 to 3,717 ft). The oldest known fossils dated with radiocarbon dating were excavated in northeastern Russia and were radiocarbon dated at 62,400 years old. Phalanx bones excavated in Spain's La Garma cave complex were radiocarbon dated to 14,300–14,000 years old. The youngest known fossils are dated 11,925 years old and originated near Fairbanks, Alaska. In Western Europe, however, P. spelaea may have survived into the Early Holocene. In 2008, a well-preserved mature ca.... Discover the C A Sabol C S Johnson popular books. Find the top 100 most popular C A Sabol C S Johnson books.