Largest cat in history?

[GrizzlyClaws]

(01-21-2022, 10:33 AM)LonePredator Wrote:

(01-21-2022, 04:48 AM)GrizzlyClaws Wrote:

(01-19-2022, 04:25 PM)LonePredator Wrote: I don't think it was any of these animals. Pretty sure it was the unnamed Tiger from Borneo which lived during the Pleistocene. It's estimated size according to the peer reviewed paper (Sherani, 2019) was 480±60 kg so it was at least 420kg but it could have been much heavier as well.

So it rivals and even most likely surpasses the Smilodon Populator but among all animals in this list, it's the Smilodon Populator (most likely) or the Ngandong Tiger

The giant Bornean tiger belonged to the southern clade of the mainland Pleistocene tiger.

Their northern counterparts were also super massive, but we just don't know the exact size of these fossils.

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

So we only know about the Southern population? So in theory if the prey density was high and there were large sized prey in the north as well then the Northern Population could have been a little bigger in size, right??


I like to think that these collosal beasts would have preyed on large pachyderms or just very large sized prey in general because that is what would have caused them to grow to such an enormous size.


But wouldn't this enormous size slow them down? As in wouldn't they have been a lot less agile? It's hard to imagine a Tiger without it's agility and explosiveness and especially their unique ability to stand on their two hindlimbs like bears which Tigers are still able to do despite their huge size


What do you think??

I think both southern and northern population did benefit from a healthy ecosystem with a substantial amount of preys.

By the end of the Pleistocene era, the landmass of the Southeast Asia did have more drastic change, and when large chunk of land had became islands, more dwarfism did occur with the southern population. You can't imagine that the modern descendants of the giant Bornean tigers are now 1/3 of its size.

The northern population had also experienced some size shrinking, but not the extreme dwarfism happened with the southern population.

Personally, I got the impression that the northern population might have larger canine teeth, broader muzzle, and more squared mandible compared to their southern cousins, but everything so far is purely speculation, and we don't have a chance to take a look at those private collections.

*This image is copyright of its original author

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