Thousands of years ago, the planet Earth was inhabited by various animals, which then died out for various reasons. Now these animals are often called fossils. Their remains in the form of preserved skeletal bones and skulls are found during archaeological excavations. Then scientists painstakingly collect all the bones together and thus try to restore the appearance of the animal. In this they are helped by rock paintings, and even primitive sculptures left by ancient people who lived at the same time. Today, computer graphics have come to the aid of scientists, allowing them to recreate the image of a fossil animal. The cave lion is one of the types of ancient creatures that terrified smaller brothers. Even primitive people tried to avoid its habitats.
Fossil Predator Cave Lion
This is how the oldest species of fossil predator, which scientists called the cave lion, was discovered and described. The remains of the bones of this animal have been found in Asia, Europe and North America. This allows us to conclude that the cave lion lived on a vast territory, from Alaska to the British Isles. The name that this species received turned out to be justified, because it was in the caves that most of its bone remains were found. But only the wounded and dying animals went into the caves. They preferred to live and hunt in open spaces.
Discovery history
The first detailed description of the cave lion was made by Russian zoologist and paleontologist Nikolai Kuzmich Vereshchagin. In his book, he spoke in detail about the generic affiliation of this animal, the geography of its distribution, habitats, nutrition, reproduction and other details. This book, titled "The Cave Lion and its History in the Holarctic and within the USSR", is based on many years of painstaking research and is still the best scientific work on the study of this fossil animal. Scientists call a significant part of the northern hemisphere Haloarctic.
Description of the animal
The cave lion was a very large predator, weighing up to 350 kilograms, 120–150 centimeters high at the withers and up to 2.5 meters long, excluding the tail. Powerful legs were relatively long, which made the predator a tall animal. His coat was smooth and short, the color was even, one-color, sandy-gray, which helped him to disguise himself during the hunt. In winter, the fur cover was more lush and saved from the cold. The cave lions did not have a mane, as evidenced by the cave paintings of primitive people. But the brush on the tail is present in many drawings. The ancient predator inspired horror and panic in our distant ancestors.
The cave lion's head was relatively large, with powerful jaws. Dental system of fossil predators externallylooks the same as in modern lions, but the teeth are still more massive. Two fangs on the upper jaw are striking in their appearance: the length of each canine of the animal was 11–11.5 centimeters. The structure of the jaws and dental system clearly proves that the cave lion was a predator and could cope with very large animals.
Habitats and hunting
Rock paintings often depict a group of cave lions chasing a single prey. This suggests that predators lived in prides and practiced collective hunting. An analysis of the remains of animal bones found in the habitats of cave lions shows that they attacked deer, elk, bison, aurochs, yaks, musk oxen and other animals that were found in this particular area. Their prey could be young mammoths, camels, rhinos, hippos and cave bears. Scientists do not exclude the possibility of attacks by predators on adult mammoths, but only under favorable conditions for this. Especially for primitive people, the cave lion did not hunt. A person could become a victim of a predator when the beast entered the shelter where people lived. Usually, only sick or old individuals climbed into the caves. Alone, a person could not cope with a predator, but collective protection using fire could save people or some of them. These extinct lions were strong, but that didn't save them from certain death.
Possible causes of extinction
Mass death and extinction of cave lions occurred inthe end of a period that scientists call the late Pleistocene. This period ended approximately 10,000 years ago. Even before the end of the Pleistocene, mammoths and other animals, which are now called fossils, also completely died out. The reasons for the extinction of cave lions are:
- climate change;
- landscape transformations;
- activities of primitive man.
Climatic and landscape changes have disrupted the habitual habitat of the lions themselves and the animals they ate. Food chains were broken, which led to the mass extinction of herbivores, who had lost the necessary food, and predators began to die out after them.
Man as the cause of the mass death of fossil animals has not been considered at all for a long time. But many scientists pay attention to the fact that primitive people constantly developed and improved. There were new types of weapons, hunting, hunting techniques improved. Man himself began to eat herbivores and learned to resist predators. This could lead to the extermination of fossil animals, including the cave lion. Now you know which animals became extinct as human civilization developed.
Given the destructive influence of man on nature, the version of the involvement of primitive people in the disappearance of cave lions does not seem fantastic today.
