Freak Felids - A Discussion of History's Largest Felines

[GrizzlyClaws]

(06-07-2015, 09:34 AM)'tigerluver' Wrote: A Cave lion hair sample found around the Malyi Anyui River (Kirillova et al. 2015):

*This image is copyright of its original author

When the followup study is published, I'll bring the info. Red hair is interesting. The fur is very well adapted for insulation, as would be expected. 

 

This should belong to the Beringian Cave lion (Panthera spealea vereshchagini).

BTW, i think the only two candidates for the large mandible found in Manchuria should be the Wanhsien tiger (Panthera tigris acutidens) and the Beringian Cave lion (Panthera spelaea vereshchagini) considered the geographic proximity.

However, those large specimens of Panthera spelaea were mostly found in Europe and the Western Russia, while those from the Eastern Russia were barely larger than the modern Indian lions. As for the Wanhsien tiger, it was known to grow at least as large as the largest modern tigers. Also, the skull from the private collections in South China also showed to be a giant specimen.

Also, Manchuria is mostly made by the Taiga forest, it could be very well still belong to the tiger domain.

The tiger stopped expanding further north from Manchuria because the unfavorite natural habit such as the steppe plain, so same for the lion-like felines, they stopped expand further south in Manchuria as the steppe plain ended there. Reply