Freak Felids - A Discussion of History's Largest Felines

[Polar]

A Pleistocene Jaguar from North-Central Nebraska
(Schultz et.al., 1985)

"The skull is from a very large jaguar with the skull not much arched. The cranium is elongated as is often the case in Panthera. The frontals are broad, flat, and covered with small foramina. The postorbital processes are well developed; the spenoidal opening large and anteriorly situated; and the basicranial region elongate. The auditory bullae extend ventrally about at the same level as the mastoid processes. The length of the p4 (27.5 mm) is small for P .. onca augusta being less than that of the type (33.1 mm) and also for the type of "Felis veroensis" (33.4 mm) which is also referable to P. onca augusta (Simpson, 1941:9). We have used Toohey's (1959) measurements for the skull (in mm): length from prosthionb~sion, 227.8; length from prosthion-staphylion, 108.2;..."





Pleistocene North American jaguar (Panthera onca augusta)



Order: Carnivora
Family: Felidae
Genus: Panthera
Species: P. onca
Dimensions: length - 1,8 m, height - 85 сm, weight - 35-150 kg
Temporal range: during the Early Pleistocene -  Early Holocene epoch (1.8 mya—10,000 years ago) (North  America)
 
The Pleistocene North American jaguar is an extinct ancestor of our modern American big cat. It lived during the Pleistocene epoch (1.8 mya —10,000 years ago) throughout all of America, for about a good 10.2 million years.

It has been suggested that the Pleistocene big cat entered the American hemisphere from Asia through the Beringia Land Bridge after it divided from the European jaguar (Panthera gombaszoegensis) about 1.5 million years ago. From there on it spread from northern America to the uppermost north of Argentine. It was much larger than our modern day jaguar (about 15 to 20%). The legs were about 6% longer, with the forefeet and hindfeet being about 9.5% longer. It is believed that this ancient big cat was much larger than the jaguars from today, as their remains were found norther of the extant jaguar populations, and thus farther away from the equator (since current populations found more north and south are also larger than those found in equatorial regions).

To this day, many discoveries have been made of this animal’s remains. A very notable discovery was made in the early 90′s in the Blue Spring Cave in central Tennessee. The discovery in question was a well preserved trackway of about 1.6 km long. Although people are uncertain about whether these were made by the Pleistocene North American jaguar, a jaw bone found in the very same cave also belonged to the same animal, supporting the theory that the tracks, too, were made by our extinct big cat. Unfortunately, the exact age of these tracks are not known. It is, however, believed that they must be older than 11,500 years ago, because jaguars have not been in the area since then. However, the tracks might be 13,000 to 25,000 years old, or much older.



Looks like P. onca augusta is more like 130-180 kilograms on average instead of the giant 230-kg average specimen popularized recently. In the Pleistocene, it also seems like the North American jaguar was larger than its southern counterpart with a more faint coat color. Reply