New study on Pleistocene cave lion and hyena interaction

[peter]

Richardrli\ dateline='\'1398348640' Wrote: A new paper published in February this year by Dr. Diedrich on the fierce competion for food and living space between cave hyenas and cave lions in late Pleistocene Europe. Europe certainly was one of a hell place during the last Ice Age!
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/paleonto...14/106203/ 

Very interesting read. Much appreciated, Richard. This is what we want. 

Diedrich's conclusions seem a bit tentative in some respects, but it's the best he could do from bones only. Analogy might have added a bit more, but this, apart from speculation, would have resulted in too many detours.

If we want to know a bit more on steppe lions, cave bears and hyenas, we could go to Russia (tigers and bears) and Africa (lions and hyenas).

In tigers and bears, it isn't easy to find patterns. In some regions, brown bears are not hunted at all, whereas they are in others. Tkachenko, in two different studies, got to very different conclusions than other researchers regarding tigers and bears (both black and brown). Could have been a result of local conditions and could have been a result of specialisation of some tigers and bears.

We do know bears are more often hunted by male tigers and we also know even these specialists avoid adult male brown bears. I know of a number of exceptions, but that's what they were. We also know some male brown bears follow and sometimes hunt tigresses with cubs.

When we use food to describe a relation, the conclusion is large beats small. Risks are avoided, but in some years males meet and clash. Those working in Russia agree the outcome of an encounter is close to unpredictable, although prime male bears (at about 260 kg.) have a significant weight advantage on male tigers (190 kg.).  

In lions and hyenas, most interactions are between groups, not individuals. This points towards turf wars. Food, I think, isn't the real issue. It's about territory and property rights. The outcome of every battle seems to depend on total weight. Pride males target individual hyenas at times because they can and because it affects the balance. Even when severely outweighed, males do not seem to be targeted by hyenas.   

Returning to Pleistocene Europe.

After the last glacial maximum about 20.000 years ago, conditions rapidly changed. About 10.000 years ago, most parts were covered by forests. As these were not suited for the animals hunted by lions, they would have withdrawn from forested regions (most of northern and central Europe).

My guess is they would have moved to food. As large herbivores would have selected elevated regions close to mountain ranges, lions and hyenas would have followed. In winter, however, they would have turned to alternative food sources. Like hibernating cave bears.

This, however, would have been a dangerous undertaking. If competition of hyenas and humans is added, lions probably moved out of human-determined landscapes in the end. Retreating to less favourable conditions and competing with hyenas, they would have retreated to less favourable regions.

Europe could have been an arena, but only at places where all participants would have met in some conditions. As predators usually meet at food and immature bears offer plenty of it, caves would have been selected.

I was a bit surprised to read lion battlegroups would have consisted of females only, as males today assist when the reward is substantial. The absence of male bones in caves points towards guards at the entrance and the only reason would have been hyenas. When both would have hunted immature bears, chances are their object of desire would have been disturbed. This, of course, would have had an effect on the outcome of the hunt. It could explain some of the casualties suffered, as mature bears (both sexes), sizewise, would have been a match for even a large male lion. Reply