The Cave Lion (Panthera spelaea and Panthera fossilis)

[tigerluver]

On the topic of cave lion body proportions, there has been a study published but not talked about much. Kindly Mr. Schouwenburg (co-author of the famous Mariciszak et al. 2014 study) made available his study on cave lion proportions. In sum, cave lions were generally built like lions in terms of the ratio between proximal and distal bones. The study:

Did the pleistocene lion, Panthera Spelaea (Goldfuss, 1810), have the same body proportions as modern lions, Panthera Leo (Linnaeus, 1758)? A preliminary study

 I have also attached the study in this post.

To build off the study, we can say that despite the differences in skull morphology, the cave lion maintained cursorial proportions, with its distal limbs being relatively longer for a pantherine. 

Schouwenburg (2011) ratios probably support P. spelaea being an open-habitat animal, like P. leo. This would again explain, at least in part, why it disappeared after the forestation process at the end of the Pleistocene. Reply