There is a world somewhere between reality and fiction. Although ignored by many, it is very real and so are those living in it. This forum is about the natural world. Here, wild animals will be heard and respected. The forum offers a glimpse into an unknown world as well as a room with a view on the present and the future. Anyone able to speak on behalf of those living in the emerald forest and the deep blue sea is invited to join.
01-28-2015, 04:21 AM( This post was last modified: 01-28-2015, 06:21 AM by tigerluver )
Looking at this map:
*This image is copyright of its original author
GrizzlyClaws, at least in my opinion you are correct that cursoriality was huge in the Pleistocene .Essentially, the lion clads whole Eurasian prehistoric range lacked forest. Open steppe-tundra calls for the abiity to run a lot and efficiently. The best way to achieve this is through long (greater stride), light (the lighter the less energy cost, yet wide bones (spread running impact stress across a large surface area to minimize damage). The lion clad have all three of these traits, suggesting a species supremely adapted for its environment.
Middle to late Pleistocene tigers are a different story, as you see on the map, those areas are "temperate" and "tropical", in other words, forested to a significant extent. Limb length becomes limited due to the trees above, and at the same time running is not as necessary. With limb length limited and running not a focus, the species can only increase in mass by bone density and width. Leopards and jaguars also show these "symptoms" of forest life.
On the MT3 reported by WaveRiders of 192 mm of P. fossilis, in accord with the ratios published by Day and Jane (2006), that specimen would be of 115 cm at the hip and 97 cm at the shoulder, assuming lion built, and a bit shorter assuming the other species' builts. Day and Jane (2006) use a pictoral method for their data, so there might be room for error as those numbers look too small to me. Furthermore, higher MT/Femur ratios is directly correlated to increased cursoriality, another piece suggesting how cursorial P. fossilis was.