American Lion
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The term "American lion" has sometimes been used to mean the cougar.
| American Lion Fossil range: Pleistocene |
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 Reconstitution of the american lion
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Prehistoric
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| Panthera leo atrox (Leidy, 1853) |
The American lion (Panthera leo atrox) also known as the North American or American cave lion, is an extinct feline known from fossils. It was one of the largest subspecies of lion to have ever existed, comparable in size to the Early Middle Pleistocene primitive cave lion Panthera leo fossilis and was about 25% larger than the modern African lion.[1]
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[edit] Description
The American lion's body length is estimated to 1.6-2.5 m.[2] So it was comparable in size to its close relative, the extinct lion Panthera leo fossilis or the modern Amur Tiger, but still smaller than their contemporary, the short-faced bear, which was the largest carnivore of their era.
About a hundred specimens have been recovered from the La Brea Tar Pits, in Los Angeles, so their body structure is well known. The features and teeth of the American lion strongly resemble modern lions, though they were considerably larger. They probably were plain coloured, and males would have lacked a mane, as it is supposed for their close relatives, the Eurasian cave lions.[citation needed]
[edit] Range
South of Alaska the American lion appeared in the Sangamonian (the last interglacial) for the first time. After that it was widespread in the Americas from Alaska to Peru, beeing absent only in the East and peninsular Florida.[2] Like many other large mammals it went extinct at the end of the Pleistocene, about 10,000 years ago. By then the American lion was one of the abundant Pleistocene megafauna - a wide variety of very large mammals that lived during the Pleistocene. Remains are most common in the Yukon, and from the La Brea Tar Pits. Their remains are much rarer in the Tar Pits than those of the more famous Smilodon ("saber-toothed tiger"), suggesting greater intelligence at avoiding the traps.[3]
[edit] Environment
In some areas of its range, the American lion lived under cold climatic conditions. They probably used caves or fissures for shelter from the cold weather. They may have even lined their dens with grass or leaves, like the Siberian tiger, another great cat that lives in the north. There are fewer American lions in the La Brea tar pits than other predators like sabertooth tigers (Smilodon fatalis) or dire wolves (Canis dirus), which suggests they may have been smart enough to avoid the hazard or their hunting methods and strategies didn't include hunting entrapped prey. American lions likely preyed on deer, North American horses (now extinct), American Bison, young mammoths, and other large, herbivorous animals.
Their extinction may have been related to the Holocene extinction event, which wiped out most of their megafauna prey. Their bones have been found among the refuse of Paleolithic Native Americans, so hunting by humans may have also contributed to their demise.
A replica of the jaw of the first specimen of American lion ever discovered can be seen in the hand of a statue of paleontologist Joseph Leidy, which is currently standing outside the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.
[edit] Classification
The American lion is normally considered a subspecies of lion, with the scientific name of Panthera leo atrox (IPA pronunciation: [pænθərə ˈleɪ.o ɑtrɑks]), which means "cruel" or "fearsome lion" in Latin); but it is occasionally considered a species in its own right, under the name Panthera atrox. At least one authority, based on a comparison of skull shapes, considers the cave lion to be more closely related to the tiger, which would indicate the proper name for the American lion is Panthera tigris atrox (Groiss, 1996). However, recent genetic work shows that it was most likely a close relative of the modern lion.[4]
[edit] See also
- Panthera leo vereshchagini, the East Siberian or Beringian cave lion.
[edit] References
- ^ SDNHM Fossil Mysteries Field Guide: American lion. Accessed 7/31/07. http://www.sdnhm.org/exhibits/mystery/fg_lion.html
- ^ a b Paul S. Martin: Quaternary Extinctions. The University of Arizona Press, 1984. ISBN 0-8165-1100-4
- ^ http://www.sdnhm.org/exhibits/mystery/fg_lion.html
- ^ Burger, Joachim et al. (2004): Molecular phylogeny of the extinct cave lion Panthera leo spelaea. (PDF) Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. Vol.30, p.841-849.
[edit] External links
- Prehistoric cats and prehistoric cat-like creatures, from the Messybeast Cat Resource Archive.
- American lion, by C. R. Harrington, from Yukon Beringia Interpretative Center.
- Panthera atrox 1853, from the Academy of Natural Sciences. (the original specimen)
- Panthera Atrox in Cryptozoology
