Freak Felids - A Discussion of History's Largest Felines

[tigerluver]

Thanks everyone for the kind words [img]images/smilies/biggrin.gif[/img].

You make an interesting point GrizzlyClaws. I think I can connect that P. atrox in a way. The bone robusticity of P. atrox is pretty the same as modern lions, but wow, does it have huge nares. It needed all that extra air for something. Cursoriality is big cause, but I'm sure extra muscle was a factor as well.

Bones are probably just a framework for what can be, not what is. I remember a poster known as Ursus posting info that wide bones didn't always produce muscle bound specimens. 

As my primary focus right now is tiger evolution in university, I've been scrounging up info on the prey items of the area. Unfortunately, fossil records are as poor as the Ngandong tiger itself. It looks as if there were some large buffalo and rhino-like species living on the Sonda shelf. I'd guess it take a lot of firepower to wrestle down one of those beasts. This is the main reason why I became interested in reconstructing the individual's dimensions and applying them to wild specimens. The wild specimens are the closest we'll get to seeing the prehistoric's felines' builds in my opinion. Reply