Freak Felids - A Discussion of History's Largest Felines

[GrizzlyClaws]

Also keep in mind that the prehistoric China/Far East was also a paradise for the megafauna, so it should have enough prey base to sustain those mega-sized felines.

But ironically the Beringian Cave lions didn't grow as large as its European cousins, it definitely didn't seize the niche position at the top of the food chain.

The best example for comparison is the Smilodon; with Smilodon populator facing almost none true competition, it had supersized itself, but Smilodon fatalis when facing more intense competition from Arctodus Simus and Panthera atrox, the body size was not as thriving as its South American cousins.

So the Beringian Cave lions probably faced the same situation here, it didn't grow as large as expected.

The prey base in the freezing cold Siberia was probably scarce, and logically the Cave lions should move down to China to search for more prey base, but it didn't succeed either. In comparison, Panthera fossilis (the ancestor of Panthera atrox) had managed to move down to the south when it had set its footprint in the North America.

From the above two points, it can be safely assumed that the dominance of the Cave lion probably ended in the Far East. The Siberia and Beringia were too freezing cold to sustain the large prey base, so the solution to become dominant large was to move down to the south where the prey base was larger.

Panthera (fossilis) atrox had managed to move down to the south from Alaska to the contiguous United States to search for the large prey base, so the only feasible solution for the Beringian Cave lion is to move down to the south to China for the large prey base.

But we know that there is almost no history of the Cave lion in China, and the so-called "Chinese Cave lion" myth was already debunked as Panthera youngi was either a tiger or a sister species of tiger, since a big cat species that originated in the East Asia cannot be more closely related to the lion than to the tiger. The leopard is closer to the lion because they both originated from Africa, so same logic should apply to Panthera tigris and Panthera youngi.

In conclusion, I think the presence of the Cave lion was overstated/overrepresented by many, especially from some western experts. I smell the bias when those experts are still so paranoid to insist the old non-logical scientific names like "Panthera leo spelaea", "Panthera leo atrox", "Panthera leo fossilis" when those so-called "subspecies" have many subspecies diversification within itself.

I think we should keep our independent study without getting influenced by those biased studies. Reply