Freak Felids - A Discussion of History's Largest Felines

[GrizzlyClaws]

@tigerluver, only some hypothesis, merely some suggestion, but without the hardcore evidence.

I tend to think that the earlier Pleistocene lions were initially the real lions, but with over million years of genetic isolation, the later Pleistocene lions should be considered as a distinct species.

The same instance we have seen with the Clouded leopard and the Sunda Clouded leopard which are two distinct species of the Clouded leopard due over million years of genetic isolation from each other.

Panthera spelaea and Panthera atrox were all daughter or grand-daughter species of Panthera (leo) fossilis. Panthera atrox in this case was morphologically more archaic than Panthera spelaea who has gradually lost many archaic features of its ancestor, and convergently evolved to be more tiger-like.

Due the geographical barriers, I tend to believe that the lions could proceed a swifter genetic mutation than the tiger within a relatively short period of genetic isolation with the other members of its species.

As you pointed out before, due the strongly interconnected geographical proximity, the tiger species never really isolated from each other until the rise of the mankind. Thus, there is no isolated tiger subspecies that ever morphed into a brand new species. Reply