Bears and Big Cats Interactions during Prehistoric Times

[brotherbear]

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*First posted by Grraahh:  [b]3.8. Lions as Cave Bear Killers
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All of the cave bear den caves studied in Germany contain only 1–3% of lion bones of Panthera leo spelaea as the only known large Late Pleistocene cold period felid of central Europe [85], of which none are from cubs and those from juveniles or early adults are extremely rare [10, 46, 47, 60, 74, 86]. The highest rate of lion mortality in caves occurs at their peak reproductive age, as has been recently demonstrated for the largest known European steppe lion population in the Zoolithen Cave [10] (Figure 14(a)). Articulated lion skeletons have also been found between cave bear skeletons deep within the Ursilor Cave, as far as 800 metres from the entrance, these being the only large predator remains found so deep inside a cave bear cave [3]. Modern lions being good climbers and nocturnal hunters [75, 76], the Late Pleistocene lions appear to have been active in killing cave bears also in darkness deep in caves [10], probably largely during the winter when the bears were hibernating [10]. Whether the bears were killed by prides of lions or by individuals remains unclear, but a lion pride would probably be required for successful hunting of adult cave bears [10] and could have even successfully defended it against hyenas, such as well documented about the lion-hyena antagonism in Africa about megafauna prey [87–89]. The cave bear consuming of Late Pleistocene steppe lions was also proven recently with nitrogen isotopic analyses [73]. As with modern lions, the Ice Age steppe lions probably fed first of all on the intestines and inner organs of the bears (Figure 13(a)), leaving large canine tooth marks and scratches on the bones, especially on the soft spongiosa of vertebrae and long bone joints, as found in the cave bear bone material from the Sophie’s Cave (Figures 6–9). The bite damages on skulls of both, lions [90] and cave bears (Figure 15) seem to have resulted from their battles in the caves from intra- or interspecies fights.


[b]Source: Cajus G. Diedrich, “Extinctions of Late Ice Age Cave Bears as a Result of Climate/Habitat Change and Large Carnivore Lion/Hyena/Wolf Predation Stress in Europe,” ISRN Zoology, vol. 2013, Article ID 138319, 25 pages, 2013. [/b] Reply