Panthera Leo Spelaea
Name	Panthera Leo Spelaea
Order	Carnivora
family	Felidae
Class	Mammalia
Name Translation	Cave Lion
Period	Middle-Late Pleistocene epoch of the Cenozoic Era
Location	Eurasia
Diet	Carnivore
Length	1.2 metre (4 feet) shoulder height and a head-body length of 2.1 m (7 ft) without the tail

The cave lion (Panthera (Leo) Spelaea) was one of the biggest cats of all ages. Reaching 120 cm at the withers, with the length of 210 cm without the tail, it averaged 5-10% higher than today's lions, but did not reach an enormous size similar to the American lion. Today, this type of lion is regarded as a subspecies which clearly distinguishes modern lions. It distributed across northern Eurasia, and even during the glacial periods, it penetrated deeply to the north.

In the north-east of Eurasia formed a separate subspecies, the so-called East Siberian cave lion (Panthera leo vereshchagini), which existed across the Bering land bridge then reached the American continent, where it developed into the American lion (Panthera (Leo) Atrox). Probably the cave lion, and like today's lions, it was a social cat, living in prides. The production of these big cats were primarily large ungulates that time, including wild horses, bulls, deer and antelope. Despite its name, the cave lion in their lifetime visited the cave rarely, occasionally using them as a solitary refuge, which was when they were necessarily mainly sick, old and immunocompromised individuals. Since they often died in the caves, its remains were found in basically the same place and saved.

Physical CharacteristicsEdit

This subspecies was one of the largest lions. The skeleton of an adult male, which was found in 1985 near Siegsdorf (Germany), had a shoulder height of around 1.2 m (4 ft) and a head-body length of 2.1 m (7 ft) without the tail. This is similar to the size of a very large modern lion. The size of this male has been exceeded by other specimens of this subspecies. Therefore this cat may have been around 8%-10% bigger than modern lions and smaller than the earlier cave lion subspecies Panthera leo fossilis or the relatively huge American lion (Panthera atrox). The cave lion is known from Paleolithic cave paintings, ivory carvings, and clay figurines.

These representations indicate that cave lions had rounded, protruding ears, tufted tails, possibly faint tiger-like stripes, and that at least some had a "ruff" or primitive mane around their neck, indicating males. Other archaeological artifacts indicate that they were featured in Paleolithic religious rituals.