Lion… Exterminated by man…. Species: Cave Lion Ancient Lions

24.10.2019

Thousands of years ago, the planet Earth was inhabited by various animals, which then different reasons died out. Now these animals are often called fossils. Their remains in the form of preserved skeletal bones and skulls are found at archaeological excavations. Then scientists painstakingly collect all the bones together and try to restore in this way appearance animal. In this they are helped by rock paintings, and even primitive sculptures left by those who lived at the same time. Today, computer graphics have come to the aid of scientists, allowing them to recreate the image of a fossil animal. cave lion- one of the types of ancient creatures that terrified smaller brothers. Even primitive people tried to bypass its habitats.

Fossil predator cave lion

This is how it was discovered and described ancient species fossil predator, which scientists called the cave lion. The remains of the bones of this animal have been found in Asia, Europe and North America. This allows us to conclude that the cave lion lived on a vast territory, from Alaska to the British Isles. The name that this species received turned out to be justified, because it was in the caves that most of its bone remains were found. But only the wounded and dying animals went into the caves. They preferred to live and hunt in open spaces.

Discovery history

First detailed description the cave lion was done Russian zoologist and paleontologist Nikolai Kuzmich Vereshchagin. In his book, he spoke in detail about generic affiliation this animal, the geography of its distribution, habitats, feeding habits, reproduction and other details. This book, entitled "The Cave Lion and Its History in the Holarctic and within the USSR", is based on many years of painstaking research and is still the best scientific work to study this fossil. Haloarctic scientists call a significant part of the northern hemisphere.

Description of the animal

The cave lion was very large predator, weighing up to 350 kilograms, 120-150 centimeters high at the withers and up to 2.5 meters long, excluding the tail. Powerful legs were relatively long, which made the predator a tall animal. His coat was smooth and short, the color was even, one-color, sandy-gray, which helped him to disguise himself during the hunt. In winter, the fur cover was more lush and saved from the cold. Manes at cave lions was not, as evidenced by cave paintings primitive people. But the brush on the tail is present in many drawings. ancient predator instilled horror and panic in our distant ancestors.

The head of the cave lion was relatively large, with powerful jaws. dental system fossil predators outwardly looks the same as that of modern lions, but the teeth are still more massive. Two canines are striking in their appearance: the length of each canine of the animal was 11-11.5 centimeters. The structure of the jaws and dental system clearly proves that the cave lion was a predator and could cope with very large animals.

Habitats and hunting

Rock paintings very often depict a group of cave lions chasing one victim. This suggests that predators lived in prides and practiced collective hunting. An analysis of the remains of animal bones found in the habitats of cave lions shows that they attacked deer, elk, bison, aurochs, yaks, musk oxen and other animals that were found in this particular area. Their prey could be young mammoths, camels, rhinos, hippopotamuses, and scientists do not exclude the possibility of attacks by predators on adult mammoths, but only under favorable conditions for this. The lion did not hunt specifically for primitive ones. A person could become a victim of a predator when the beast entered the shelter where people lived. Usually, only sick or old individuals climbed into the caves. Alone, a person could not cope with a predator, but collective defense using fire could save people or some part of them. These extinct lions were strong, but this did not save them from imminent death.

Possible causes of extinction

The mass death and extinction of cave lions occurred at the end of a period that scientists call the late Pleistocene. This period ended approximately 10,000 years ago. Even before the end of the Pleistocene, mammoths and other animals that are now called fossils also completely died out. The reasons for the extinction of cave lions are:

climate change;
landscape transformations;
activity of primitive man.

Climatic and landscape changes have disrupted the habitual habitat of the lions themselves and the animals they feed on. They were torn apart, which led to the mass extinction of herbivores, who had lost the necessary food, and after them predators began to die out.

Man as a reason mass death fossil animals long time was not considered at all. But many scientists pay attention to the fact that primitive people constantly developed and improved. New hunts appeared, hunting techniques improved. Man himself began to eat herbivores and learned to resist predators. This could lead to the extermination of fossil animals, including the cave lion. Now you know which animals became extinct as human civilization developed.

Considering the destructive influence of man on nature, the version of the involvement of primitive people in the disappearance of cave lions no longer seems fantastic today.

Un, the son of the Bull, liked to visit underground caves. He caught blind fish and colorless crayfish there with Zur, the son of Earth, the last of the tribe of Wa, People without shoulders, who survived the extermination of his people by the Red Dwarfs.

For days on end Un and Zur wandered along the stream underground river. Often its shore was just a narrow stone cornice. Sometimes I had to crawl along a narrow corridor of porphyry, gneiss, basalt. Zur lit a resin torch from the branches of a turpentine tree, and the crimson flame was reflected in the sparkling quartz vaults and in the swiftly flowing waters of the underground stream. Leaning over the black water, they watched the pale, colorless animals swimming in it, then walked on, to the place where the road was blocked by a blank granite wall, from under which an underground river burst out noisily. For a long time, Un and Zur stood idle in front of the black wall. How they wanted to overcome this mysterious barrier that the Ulamr tribe had encountered six years ago, during their migration from north to south.

Un, the son of the Bull, belonged, according to the custom of the tribe, to his mother's brother. But he preferred his father Nao, the son of the Leopard, from whom he inherited a powerful build, tireless lungs and extraordinary acuteness of feelings. His hair fell over his shoulders in thick, stiff strands, like the mane of a wild horse; the eyes were the color of gray clay. Huge physical strength made him a dangerous opponent. But even more than Nao, Un was prone to generosity, if the vanquished lay before him, prostrated on the ground. Therefore, the Ulamry, paying tribute to the strength and courage of Un, treated him with some disdain.

He always hunted alone, or with Xur, whom the Ulamry despised for being weak, though no one was so adept at finding firestones and crafting tinder from the soft core of wood.

Xur had a narrow, lizard-like body. His shoulders were so sloping that his arms seemed to come straight out of his torso. From time immemorial, all the Wa, the tribe of the Shoulderless People, looked like this. Xur thought slowly, but his mind was more sophisticated than that of the people of the Ulamr tribe.

Zur liked to visit underground caves even more than Un. His ancestors and the ancestors of his ancestors had always lived in regions abounding in streams and rivers, some of which disappeared under the hills or were lost in the depths of the mountain ranges.

One morning the friends were wandering along the river bank. They saw the crimson ball of the sun rise above the horizon and golden light flooded the surroundings. Xur knew that he liked to follow the fast-moving waves; Ung gave himself up to this pleasure unconsciously. They headed towards the underground caverns. Mountains rose in front of them, high and impregnable. Steep, sharp peaks stretched like an endless wall from north to south, and nowhere was a passage visible between them. Un and Zur, like the rest of the Ulamr tribe, yearned passionately to overcome this invincible barrier.

For more than fifteen years, the Ulamry, having left their native places, wandered from the northwest to the southeast. Moving south, they soon noticed that the further they went, the richer the land, and the more abundant the booty. And gradually people got used to this endless journey.

But a huge one stood in their way Mountain chain, and the advance of the tribe to the south stopped. The Ulamr searched in vain for a passage among the impregnable stone peaks.

Un and Zur sat down to rest in the reeds, under the black poplars. Three mammoths, huge and majestic, marched along the opposite bank of the river. You could see antelopes running in the distance; the rhinoceros appeared from behind a rocky ledge. Excitement seized Nao's son. How he wanted to overcome the space separating him from the prey!

Sighing, he got up and strode upstream, followed by Zur. Soon they found themselves in front of a dark recess in the rock, from where a river burst out with noise. The bats rushed into the darkness, frightened by the appearance of people.

Excited by the sudden thought that came into his mind, Un said to Zur:

There are other lands beyond the mountains!

Zur replied:

The river flows from sunny countries.

People without shoulders have long known that all rivers and streams have a beginning and an end.

The blue dusk of the cave was replaced by the darkness of the underground labyrinth. Xur ignited one of the resinous branches he had taken with him. But friends could do without light - they knew so well every turn of the underground path.

The whole day Un and Zur walked along the gloomy passages along the course of the underground river, jumping over pits and clefts, and in the evening they fell asleep soundly on the shore, having supper of crayfish baked in the ashes.

During the night they were awakened by a sudden jolt that seemed to come from the very bowels of the mountain. There was a roar of falling stones, a crack of crumbling rocks. Then there was silence. And, not having understood what was the matter, the friends fell asleep again.

Vague memories took hold of Xur.

“The earth shook,” he said.

Und did not understand Xur's words and did not try to understand their meaning. His thoughts were short and swift. He could only think of the obstacles directly in front of him or the prey he was chasing. His impatience grew, and he kept accelerating his steps, so that Xur could hardly keep up with him. Long before the end of the second day, they reached the place where a blank stone wall usually blocked their way.

Zur lit a new resinous torch. A bright flame lit up the high wall, reflected in the countless fractures of the quartz rock.

An astonished exclamation broke out from both young men: a wide crack gaped in the stone wall!

"That's because the earth was shaking," Xur said.

With one leap, Ung was at the edge of the crack. The aisle was wide enough to let a person through. Unk knew what treacherous traps lurked in the newly shattered rocks. But his impatience was so great that he, without hesitation, squeezed himself into the blackened stone gap in front of him, so narrow that it was possible to move forward with great difficulty. Zur followed the Bull's son. Love for a friend made him forget natural caution.

Soon the passage became so narrow and low that they could barely squeeze between the stones, bent over, almost crawling. The air was hot and stale, it became more and more difficult to breathe ... Suddenly, a sharp ledge of rock blocked their path.

Angered, Oong drew a stone ax from his belt and struck the rocky ledge with such force as if he had an enemy in front of him. The rock shook, and the young men realized that it could be moved. Zur, sticking his torch into the crack in the wall, began to help Un. The rock shook harder. They pushed her with all their might. There was a crash, stones fell down ... The rock swayed and ... they heard the dull sound of a heavy block falling. The path was clear.

After resting a little, the friends moved on. The passage gradually widened. Soon Un and Zur were able to straighten up to their full height, breathing became easier. Finally they found themselves in a vast cave. Ung rushed forward with all his might, but soon the darkness forced him to stop: Zur with his torch could not keep up with his swift friend. But the delay was short. The impatience of the son of the Bull was transferred to the Man-without-shoulders, and they moved on with large steps, almost at a run.

Soon a faint light shone ahead. It intensified as the young men approached it. Suddenly Un and Xur were at the mouth of the cave. Before them stretched a narrow corridor formed by two sheer granite walls. Above, high above their heads, a streak of dazzling blue sky.

“Un and Zur went through the mountain!” - the son of the Bull exclaimed joyfully.

He straightened up to his full mighty height, and pride from the consciousness of the accomplished feat took possession of his whole being.

Zur, more restrained by nature, was also very excited.

Once upon a time, ancient animals lived on our land. The cave lion is one of them. He became the ancestor of modern lions. What was the cave lion in those distant times - we will tell you in our article.

In ancient times, amazing animals inhabited our planet. Some of them are not at all like the modern inhabitants of the Earth. But scientists believe that all modern animals descended from those same fossil ancestors. Today, thanks to computer technology, we can easily see what the ancestors of modern animals looked like, although they were seen with their own eyes only by ancient people who left a memory of these animals only in rock carvings.

The cave lion is one such ancient animal. He is an ancient representative of the cat family, the predatory order and belonged to the genus Panthers. Scientists around the world have the opportunity to study this representative ancient fauna only on the remains of bones that are found during excavations.

How did scientists "get acquainted" with the cave lion?

On the territory of the present Russian region, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), in 1891, a scientist named Chersky was found femur some big predatory beast. At that time, the scientist concluded that the fossil remains belong to a representative of ancient tigers. After this discovery, long years the ancient "tigers" were forgotten...

Until, almost a hundred years later, Nikolai Vereshchagin made a statement that these bones belong to the descendants of lions, not tigers. A little later, he wrote the book "The Cave Lion and its History in the Holarctic and within the USSR", in which he described all his findings and research results.

The appearance of an ancient animal - a cave lion

Having modeled the skeleton of an animal on the remains, scientists determined that the height of the cave lion was about 120 centimeters at the withers, the body length was 240 centimeters (without the length of the tail). Cave drawings show that the mane of these ancient felines was not very impressive. Hair, like modern African lions, cave lions could not boast. The wool was uniform. The tail was decorated with a small tassel.

Where and when did cave lions live?

The appearance of this species of mammals is attributed to a period of about 300 thousand years ago. At that time, in the territory of modern Europe, the cave lion for the first time stood out as an independent subspecies. This ancient animal inhabited the entire area of the northern part of the Eurasian continent. Its habitat was modern Chukotka and Alaska, as well as the Balkan Peninsula.

Archaeological excavations have allowed scientists to prove the habitation of lions in the territory of present-day countries, such as: England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria. The territory of the former Soviet republics (USSR) was also inhabited by these ancient animals. Rock paintings were found near Odessa and Kyiv.

Cave lion lifestyle

Cave lions lived in prides, like them. Although this lion is called a cave lion, in fact, it was rarely found in caves. This shelter was most of all intended for the injured or dying individuals who needed privacy. Therefore, so many remains are now found in caves.

What did the ancestors of modern lions eat?

The main food for these predators were large ungulates of that period: antelopes, deer, wild bulls and horses. Sometimes their prey was small cubs or giants.

Joseph Henri Roni Sr.

cave lion

Abridged translation from French I Orlovskaya

Drawings by L. Durasov

Part one

Chapter 1 Un and Zur

Un, the son of the Bull, liked to visit underground caves. He fished there for blind fish and colorless crayfish with Zur, son of Earth, the last of the Wa tribe, the Shoulderless Men, who survived the extermination of his people by the Red Dwarfs.

For days on end Un and Zur wandered along the course of the underground river. Often its shore was just a narrow stone cornice. Sometimes I had to crawl along a narrow corridor of porphyry, gneiss, basalt. Zur lit a resin torch from the branches of a turpentine tree, and the crimson flame was reflected in the sparkling quartz vaults and in the swiftly flowing waters of the underground stream. Leaning over the black water, they watched the pale, colorless animals swimming in it, then walked on, to the place where the road was blocked by a blank granite wall, from under which an underground river burst out noisily. For a long time, Un and Zur stood idle in front of the black wall. How they wanted to overcome this mysterious barrier that the Ulamr tribe had encountered six years ago, during their migration from north to south.

Un, the son of the Bull, belonged, according to the custom of the tribe, to his mother's brother. But he preferred his father Nao, the son of the Leopard, from whom he inherited a powerful build, tireless lungs and extraordinary acuteness of feelings. His hair fell over his shoulders in thick, stiff strands, like the mane of a wild horse; the eyes were the color of gray clay. His great physical strength made him a dangerous opponent. But even more than Nao, Un was prone to generosity, if the vanquished lay before him, prostrated on the ground. Therefore, the Ulamry, paying tribute to the strength and courage of Un, treated him with some disdain.

He always hunted alone, or with Xur, whom the Ulamry despised for being weak, though no one was so adept at finding firestones and crafting tinder from the soft core of wood.

Xur had a narrow, lizard-like body. His shoulders were so sloping that his arms seemed to come straight out of his torso. From time immemorial, all the Wa - the tribe of the Shoulderless People - looked like this. Xur thought slowly, but his mind was more sophisticated than that of the people of the Ulamr tribe.

One morning the friends were wandering along the river bank. They saw the crimson ball of the sun rise above the horizon and golden light flooded the surroundings. Xur knew that he liked to follow the fast-moving waves; Ung gave himself up to this pleasure unconsciously. They headed towards the underground caverns. Mountains rose in front of them, tall and impregnable. Steep, sharp peaks stretched like an endless wall from north to south, and nowhere was a passage visible between them. Un and Zur, like the rest of the Ulamr tribe, yearned passionately to overcome this invincible barrier.

For more than fifteen years, the Ulamry, having left their native places, wandered from the northwest to the southeast. Moving south, they soon noticed that the farther, the richer the land, and the more abundant the booty. And gradually people got used to this endless journey.

But a huge mountain range stood in their way, and the advance of the tribe to the south stopped. The Ulamr searched in vain for a passage among the impregnable stone peaks.

Sighing, he got up and strode upstream, followed by Zur. Soon they found themselves in front of a dark recess in the rock, from where a river burst out with noise. Bats rushed into the darkness, frightened by the appearance of people.

Excited by the sudden thought that came into his mind, Un said to Zur:

Beyond the mountains there are other lands!

Zur replied:

The river flows from sunny countries.

People without shoulders have long known that all rivers and streams have a beginning and an end.

Vague memories took hold of Xur.

The earth shook, he said.

Zur lit a new resinous torch. A bright flame lit up the high wall, reflected in the countless fractures of the quartz rock.

An astonished exclamation broke out from both young men: a wide crack gaped in the stone wall!

It's because the earth was shaking, Zur said.

Excavations in northern Kenya international group scientists discovered the remains of a lion that lived in Africa more than 200 thousand years ago during the Pleistocene era. During the study, it turned out that the animal was much larger than its long-extinct and now living African relatives. The work dedicated to this published in the Journal of Paleontology.

African cave lions were the size of a man

American and Kenyan experts have measured the size of the skull and teeth of a lion living in Kenya more than 200 thousand years ago. It turned out that the animal was several times larger than its African relatives and reached the size of Pleistocene lions from America, Europe and Siberia. Scientists believe that this subspecies was previously unknown to science.

“This skull is the first evidence that in the middle and late Pleistocene in eastern Africa there were giant lions, whose size may have been due to the greater mass of megafauna (a set of animal species whose body weight exceeds 40-45 kg), the authors of the work believe. - The skull is notable for its big size, equal to the parameters of the largest cave lion skull in Eurasia and much larger than the known skulls from Africa,” they conclude.

cave lions

Note that the Pleistocene lions living in the north, namely in America, Europe and Eastern Siberia, were very different from lions from Africa and South-East Asia. In particular, they were 1.5 times larger than their southern relatives.

The Mosbach lion, living in Eurasia, is considered the largest cat known to science today. By the way, he reached a length of 3.7 m, and weighed 400-430 kg. american lion was slightly smaller than the Mosbach: the length of his body, including the tail, reached 3.7 m, and he weighed about 400 kg. East Siberian lionweighed 180-270 kg and reached a length of 2.40 m without a tail.