Skulls, Skeletons, Canines & Claws

[Spalea]

@GrizzlyClaws :


" Indeed, but the ancient lions had more diversification.

The Cave lion was a tiger-like lion also with proportionally broad snout, and some eastern populations seemed to have develop the canine teeth almost as long as tiger's.
The American lion was the most athletic built among all pantherines.
The Cromerian lion was extremely tall with very long jaw.
The Pleistocene African lions were just as large as those aforementioned lion species.
Don't you think that the lion also has its special charm?  "

Perhaps the ancient lions had more diversification because they were more widespread. Why ? Perhaps because of their social life in pride. But how can we be sure about it ? Yes, we have clues, we can have some presumptions. Somebody painted them as "generalists" among felids while the tigers were "specialists".
I wouldn't dare to affirm that the american lion was the most athletic-built panterine. Perhaps it was confronted with the hardest concurrence if it should have coexisted with the short-faced bear, the saber-tooth cat (smilodon fatalis ? Smilodon populator ?), the dire wolf (if this biggest wolf of all time lived in large prides).

The fact is: we have tendency to reproduce some extant actual animal's characteristics to its ancestors. Thus, did the lions live all in pride ? Were the tigers always solitary felids ? Probably, we can seriously believe it, but we aren't 100% sure of that. But, in order to get some answers we are scrutinizing the extant animals' behaviour, but these ones have to suffer the most powerful human action we can imagine... And it is worse and worse with time. So datas are biased.

Of course lions has "its special charm" as you told (I used the word "asset"). Otherwise it would have disappeared. But each animal specy has its special charm. The lions among big felids spreaded almost everywhere: North America, Eurasia, Africa... They would have been a long-time victorious specy before the human being achievement. Reply