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Description
Panthera spelaea
Lions are among the most iconic animals alive today. The undisputed king of the jungle, the savannah, and Africa. A symbol of heraldry, power, and royalty across Europe and Africa. Today, Lions reside in Africa as well as a subpopulation in India. However, wind the clocks back some 12,000 years ago during the Last Ice Age, lions’ range was far greater ranging from as far south as the Cape of Good Hope, to Murmansk in the North, as far east as Portugal, and as far west as British Columbia. The most common species of Lion was known as the Eurasian Steppe Lion, Panthera spelaea, also known as the Eurasian Cave Lion.

Discovery:

In 1810, German Paleontologist Georg August Goldfuss described a fossil skull, perfectly preserved and found in a cave near the village of Muggendorf in Bavaria. He recognized it as some sort of felid resembling a lion given the skull structure. However, it was bigger than any modern lion. Given the nature of the find, being found in a cave, he decided to give it the name of Felis spelaea, which in Latin literally means, “Cat of the Caves”.

Taxonomy:

Overtime with the knowledge of taxonomy, the generic label of “Felis” has changed and it was reclassified as Panthera spelaea. Obviously, the steppe lion is a pantherine, the long tail, a skull structure comparable to pantherines and the robust body. However, some paleontologists considered this species to be a subspecies of the lion, thus it would be called “Panthera leo spelaea”. However, others argued that this is a separate species of pantherine. This was confirmed with DNA studies on the lion.

Today, 2 views in the scientific community tell the rise of these lions. Morphological studies indicate that around 1,900,000 years ago, the modern lion and Panthera spelaea diverged and went down two separate evolutionary paths. Wheras, genomic studies indicate a more recent split around 500,000 years ago, and the two species were unable to interbreed by around 470,000 years ago.

Whichever study one believes, the fact remains, its binomial name is warranted.

Approximately 350-400,000 years ago, these lions arrived in North America via the Beringian land bridge. In 2020, DNA studies were done on 31 specimens, and it was found some fell into two subspecies. With one subspecies being dubbed, “Panthera spelaea vershchagini”. The Beringian Steppe Lion. The subspecies lived on the land bridge as well as into Alaska and Northwestern Canada. However, there is no evidence of them migrating into the 48 United States after 340,000 years ago. For there, their close cousins, Panthera atrox ruled the states, but that is a profile for another day.

Description:

Steppe lions largely had the same body plan of modern lions, but they were slightly bigger than modern lions. With some large males reaching 4ft tall at the shoulder and 8ft in body length (excluding the tail, tail is included in this profile). Females, as to be expected, were about a third smaller than their male counterparts.

Well preserved specimens often have clumps of hair found on them. In life, it’s likely the coloration of steppe lions was similar to modern lions, but lighter in hair tone. Furthermore, the hair was stronger and had a downy coat of hair to protect them from colder environments.

Cave paintings found in Europe often depict steppe lions In Chauvet Cave in southern France, a depiction of 2 steppe lions show something interesting. Two lions are painted side-by-side in profile. The lion in the background has a prominent scrotum illustrated by the artist (circled in blue ) and a smaller one in the foreground, a male and female. What stands out even more is the male does not possess a mane. Instead, a reduced mane on the neck very different compared to its African relative.

Habitat:

Despite its binomial name and its other moniker, the “Cave Lion”, it was not frequent denizen of the caves. While many have been found in cave systems, other fossils and specimens found in parts of Russia. In 2008, a well-preserved specimen was found in the Maly Anyuy River region of Far Eastern Russia. Once this would have been a vast swath of steppe which would have been this beast’s dominion. Known as the mammoth steppes which ranged from Portugal to Alaska which were nutrient rich and diverse grassland. From woolly mammoths, horses, bison, saiga antelope, Irish elk, and reindeer just to name a few animals. Throughout the steppe there would have been pockets of forest and woodland where the steppe lion could have hunted for prey as well.

In other words, the habitat would have been as diverse as the modern savannah, but colder and drier as well.

As for why it was found in caves, that has more to do with some subpopulations’ hunting habits.

Behavior AND supposed “Cave Nature”:

The behavior, much like the habitat was (for the most part) similar to modern lions. With 1-3 males (usually brothers) running a pride with at least 6 females and their offspring. The aforementioned cave paintings found across Europe show artists depicting groups of lions together mixed in with animals like reindeer and horses.

However, some subpopulations of lions may be different. A 2018 paper described the discovery of 4 steppe lions found together in Západné Tatry Mountain cave system. Among the finds was a well-preserved male specimen was among those found. The authors of the paper theorized that steppe lions in more northern regions likely were more solitary animals or at least probably paired up with their siblings to form smaller groups. This is not that surprising; many populations of lions have different behavioral and social structures from region to region in Africa and India.

As is the case with their African cousins, these were the apex predators of their regions, however, just like lions in Africa, they did not focus on just one food source, every region had different dietary preferences. A 2011 study looked into the bone collagen of these big cats, and it was found that different populations of cave lions had different preferences. The bulk of the food consumed by these animals was reindeer which would have been abundant on the steppes. However, there was another food source that some steppe lion populations targeted, and it was from this that they earned their other moniker.
Some populations of lions hunted juvenile cave bears. With the cave systems plentiful across Europe and Eurasia, killing a juvenile cave bear while it was hibernating would have awarded an individual or a pride with a glut of food. Though targeting this massive ice age creature would have carried great risk and many lions show evidence of that.
Countless skeletons show injuries sustained in the cave systems. Many died in the attempt to bring down hibernating bears. It is these fossils found in caves where the steppe lion earned its more ubiquitous label. Other injuries found in caves and their locations show that lions were probably killed by cave hyenas as well, as bones showing bite marks have been found in food stashes associated with hyenas.

The behavior of these big cats was similar to their cousins and also similar in that they lived hard and dangerous lives. The environment of Ice Age Eurasia was brutal and they had to be especially hardy to survive and thrive across Eurasia.

Frozen specimens and inferred behavior:

In the previous decade, steppe lion cubs have been found preserved in Siberian permafrost giving an insight into what these lions were like as juveniles. In 2015, two cubs were unearthed by a riverbank. These two specimens were very young no more than 2 weeks old. Paleontologists theorized that these babies were in a den when it collapsed, burying them alive. They are dated to around 25-55,000 years old.
In 2017 another juvenile named Boris was unearthed. Dated to around 50,000 years, this juvenile was older and even better preserved than the two infants, around 7-8 weeks old, where he was almost weaned from his mother’s milk and could have been integrated in the pride. However, he stayed a little too long at the den, and like the two cubs was buried.
The following year, and just a couple yards away, another juvenile, Spartak was unearthed. Roughly the same age as Boris and just as well preserved. So much so that at first, it was theorized that this was Boris’s sibling however, subsequent dating indicates a gap of Spartak being dated least 15,000 years later than Boris.

The discoveries and knowledge of what secrets these cubs hold could revolutionize our view of these animals. Already, we have some insight, the juveniles were probably raised in a den with their mother by nursing them. The site would have resembled modern lions’ dens perhaps some small cave or area in the earth or bush thicket. Here, the former would have been the case and it was because of the cave site where the scientific community got the 4 specimens.

Possible Revival:

With the discovery of the cubs, many have pondered as to if we could genetically recreate these animals through the means of cloning. As of 2022, no attempts have been made to extract DNA for cloning purposes from these animals.

Furthermore, if we struggle to preserve the existing lion population in Africa, why should we attempt to bring back an animal that is extinct for pure novelty/entertainment for the masses?

Extinction:

The extinction of this magnificent lion has been disputed. However, climate change is largely believed to have been the cause of extinction. The climatic warming during the end of the Pleistocene and dawn of the Holocene caused a massive reduction in terms of its habitat and the mammoth steppe receded. Humans have also been proposed to have played a role in the extinction of this animal, as cave sites in Spain show evidence of human-inflicted injuries to steppe lions.

Whichever cause is more possible, human or climate, the fact remains, they’re extinct. The king of the steppes fell, and now, tragically, the king of the savannah is at risk of the same fate. Hopefully, we can preserve this species unlike its cousin.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Another icon of the Ice Age that deserves a profile.

Decided to depict a lone male hunting a reindeer. At first, I thought about a pair of females hunting a steppe wisent, but I decided to go with the more common prey item. I know the reindeer looks weird, but it was the best one I had at my disposal.

Now, the face for the male here, at first, I thought about making a rig for the faces, but, after an hour, I gave up. It’s impossible to get the rigs to work right in models like this unless I had some better knowledge of rigging and even if I did, the software I use is dated because the scripts for blender are dated. So, I went with the old-fashioned facial manipulation, warping and clone stamping in tandem with photo reference. Took about 10 minutes in total.

Will this be in Past Meets Present? Yes. It’s going to be one of the stars and I can’t wait to use it.

For Past Meets Present:
Past Meets Present (Pt4 is Up) - The ZT2 Round Table
Lion Model by Ulquiorra and Skin by Lgcfm:
Steppe Lion (Lgcfm & Ulquiorra) | ZT2 Download Library Wiki | Fandom
Reindeer model and skin by HENDRIX:
European Reindeer (ZTABC Team) | ZT2 Download Library Wiki | Fandom

PS: The paper on the bone collagen. I tried to include the Slovak mountains find, but couldn’t find a free article:

Isotopic evidence for dietary ecology of cave lion (Panthera spelaea) in North-Western Europe: Prey choice, competition and implications for extinction (archives-ouvertes.fr)

Description
Panthera spelaea
Lions are among the most iconic animals alive today. The undisputed king of the jungle, the savannah, and Africa. A symbol of heraldry, power, and royalty across Europe and Africa. Today, Lions reside in Africa as well as a subpopulation in India. However, wind the clocks back some 12,000 years ago during the Last Ice Age, lions’ range was far greater ranging from as far south as the Cape of Good Hope, to Murmansk in the North, as far east as Portugal, and as far west as British Columbia. The most common species of Lion was known as the Eurasian Steppe Lion, Panthera spelaea, also known as the Eurasian Cave Lion.

Discovery:

In 1810, German Paleontologist Georg August Goldfuss described a fossil skull, perfectly preserved and found in a cave near the village of Muggendorf in Bavaria. He recognized it as some sort of felid resembling a lion given the skull structure. However, it was bigger than any modern lion. Given the nature of the find, being found in a cave, he decided to give it the name of Felis spelaea, which in Latin literally means, “Cat of the Caves”.

Taxonomy:

Overtime with the knowledge of taxonomy, the generic label of “Felis” has changed and it was reclassified as Panthera spelaea. Obviously, the steppe lion is a pantherine, the long tail, a skull structure comparable to pantherines and the robust body. However, some paleontologists considered this species to be a subspecies of the lion, thus it would be called “Panthera leo spelaea”. However, others argued that this is a separate species of pantherine. This was confirmed with DNA studies on the lion.

Today, 2 views in the scientific community tell the rise of these lions. Morphological studies indicate that around 1,900,000 years ago, the modern lion and Panthera spelaea diverged and went down two separate evolutionary paths. Wheras, genomic studies indicate a more recent split around 500,000 years ago, and the two species were unable to interbreed by around 470,000 years ago.

Whichever study one believes, the fact remains, its binomial name is warranted.

Approximately 350-400,000 years ago, these lions arrived in North America via the Beringian land bridge. In 2020, DNA studies were done on 31 specimens, and it was found some fell into two subspecies. With one subspecies being dubbed, “Panthera spelaea vershchagini”. The Beringian Steppe Lion. The subspecies lived on the land bridge as well as into Alaska and Northwestern Canada. However, there is no evidence of them migrating into the 48 United States after 340,000 years ago. For there, their close cousins, Panthera atrox ruled the states, but that is a profile for another day.

Description:

Steppe lions largely had the same body plan of modern lions, but they were slightly bigger than modern lions. With some large males reaching 4ft tall at the shoulder and 8ft in body length (excluding the tail, tail is included in this profile). Females, as to be expected, were about a third smaller than their male counterparts.

Well preserved specimens often have clumps of hair found on them. In life, it’s likely the coloration of steppe lions was similar to modern lions, but lighter in hair tone. Furthermore, the hair was stronger and had a downy coat of hair to protect them from colder environments.

Cave paintings found in Europe often depict steppe lions In Chauvet Cave in southern France, a depiction of 2 steppe lions show something interesting. Two lions are painted side-by-side in profile. The lion in the background has a prominent scrotum illustrated by the artist (circled in blue ) and a smaller one in the foreground, a male and female. What stands out even more is the male does not possess a mane. Instead, a reduced mane on the neck very different compared to its African relative.

Habitat:

Despite its binomial name and its other moniker, the “Cave Lion”, it was not frequent denizen of the caves. While many have been found in cave systems, other fossils and specimens found in parts of Russia. In 2008, a well-preserved specimen was found in the Maly Anyuy River region of Far Eastern Russia. Once this would have been a vast swath of steppe which would have been this beast’s dominion. Known as the mammoth steppes which ranged from Portugal to Alaska which were nutrient rich and diverse grassland. From woolly mammoths, horses, bison, saiga antelope, Irish elk, and reindeer just to name a few animals. Throughout the steppe there would have been pockets of forest and woodland where the steppe lion could have hunted for prey as well.

In other words, the habitat would have been as diverse as the modern savannah, but colder and drier as well.

As for why it was found in caves, that has more to do with some subpopulations’ hunting habits.

Behavior AND supposed “Cave Nature”:

The behavior, much like the habitat was (for the most part) similar to modern lions. With 1-3 males (usually brothers) running a pride with at least 6 females and their offspring. The aforementioned cave paintings found across Europe show artists depicting groups of lions together mixed in with animals like reindeer and horses.

However, some subpopulations of lions may be different. A 2018 paper described the discovery of 4 steppe lions found together in Západné Tatry Mountain cave system. Among the finds was a well-preserved male specimen was among those found. The authors of the paper theorized that steppe lions in more northern regions likely were more solitary animals or at least probably paired up with their siblings to form smaller groups. This is not that surprising; many populations of lions have different behavioral and social structures from region to region in Africa and India.

As is the case with their African cousins, these were the apex predators of their regions, however, just like lions in Africa, they did not focus on just one food source, every region had different dietary preferences. A 2011 study looked into the bone collagen of these big cats, and it was found that different populations of cave lions had different preferences. The bulk of the food consumed by these animals was reindeer which would have been abundant on the steppes. However, there was another food source that some steppe lion populations targeted, and it was from this that they earned their other moniker.
Some populations of lions hunted juvenile cave bears. With the cave systems plentiful across Europe and Eurasia, killing a juvenile cave bear while it was hibernating would have awarded an individual or a pride with a glut of food. Though targeting this massive ice age creature would have carried great risk and many lions show evidence of that.
Countless skeletons show injuries sustained in the cave systems. Many died in the attempt to bring down hibernating bears. It is these fossils found in caves where the steppe lion earned its more ubiquitous label. Other injuries found in caves and their locations show that lions were probably killed by cave hyenas as well, as bones showing bite marks have been found in food stashes associated with hyenas.

The behavior of these big cats was similar to their cousins and also similar in that they lived hard and dangerous lives. The environment of Ice Age Eurasia was brutal and they had to be especially hardy to survive and thrive across Eurasia.

Frozen specimens and inferred behavior:

In the previous decade, steppe lion cubs have been found preserved in Siberian permafrost giving an insight into what these lions were like as juveniles. In 2015, two cubs were unearthed by a riverbank. These two specimens were very young no more than 2 weeks old. Paleontologists theorized that these babies were in a den when it collapsed, burying them alive. They are dated to around 25-55,000 years old.
In 2017 another juvenile named Boris was unearthed. Dated to around 50,000 years, this juvenile was older and even better preserved than the two infants, around 7-8 weeks old, where he was almost weaned from his mother’s milk and could have been integrated in the pride. However, he stayed a little too long at the den, and like the two cubs was buried.
The following year, and just a couple yards away, another juvenile, Spartak was unearthed. Roughly the same age as Boris and just as well preserved. So much so that at first, it was theorized that this was Boris’s sibling however, subsequent dating indicates a gap of Spartak being dated least 15,000 years later than Boris.

The discoveries and knowledge of what secrets these cubs hold could revolutionize our view of these animals. Already, we have some insight, the juveniles were probably raised in a den with their mother by nursing them. The site would have resembled modern lions’ dens perhaps some small cave or area in the earth or bush thicket. Here, the former would have been the case and it was because of the cave site where the scientific community got the 4 specimens.

Possible Revival:

With the discovery of the cubs, many have pondered as to if we could genetically recreate these animals through the means of cloning. As of 2022, no attempts have been made to extract DNA for cloning purposes from these animals.

Furthermore, if we struggle to preserve the existing lion population in Africa, why should we attempt to bring back an animal that is extinct for pure novelty/entertainment for the masses?

Extinction:

The extinction of this magnificent lion has been disputed. However, climate change is largely believed to have been the cause of extinction. The climatic warming during the end of the Pleistocene and dawn of the Holocene caused a massive reduction in terms of its habitat and the mammoth steppe receded. Humans have also been proposed to have played a role in the extinction of this animal, as cave sites in Spain show evidence of human-inflicted injuries to steppe lions.

Whichever cause is more possible, human or climate, the fact remains, they’re extinct. The king of the steppes fell, and now, tragically, the king of the savannah is at risk of the same fate. Hopefully, we can preserve this species unlike its cousin.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Another icon of the Ice Age that deserves a profile.

Decided to depict a lone male hunting a reindeer. At first, I thought about a pair of females hunting a steppe wisent, but I decided to go with the more common prey item. I know the reindeer looks weird, but it was the best one I had at my disposal.

Now, the face for the male here, at first, I thought about making a rig for the faces, but, after an hour, I gave up. It’s impossible to get the rigs to work right in models like this unless I had some better knowledge of rigging and even if I did, the software I use is dated because the scripts for blender are dated. So, I went with the old-fashioned facial manipulation, warping and clone stamping in tandem with photo reference. Took about 10 minutes in total.

Will this be in Past Meets Present? Yes. It’s going to be one of the stars and I can’t wait to use it.

For Past Meets Present:
Past Meets Present (Pt4 is Up) - The ZT2 Round Table
Lion Model by Ulquiorra and Skin by Lgcfm:
Steppe Lion (Lgcfm & Ulquiorra) | ZT2 Download Library Wiki | Fandom
Reindeer model and skin by HENDRIX:
European Reindeer (ZTABC Team) | ZT2 Download Library Wiki | Fandom

PS: The paper on the bone collagen. I tried to include the Slovak mountains find, but couldn’t find a free article:

Isotopic evidence for dietary ecology of cave lion (Panthera spelaea) in North-Western Europe: Prey choice, competition and implications for extinction (archives-ouvertes.fr)