Who is more dangerous, who is faster and who is stronger - a lion or a tiger? American lion: the giant ancestor of modern cats Who will win the lion or the saber-toothed tiger
For a long time, until the moment when a person became a hunter and acquired a weapon, representatives of the cat family were at the top of the food chain of our planet. Of course, these were not modern lions, jaguars, leopards and tigers, but their extinct ancestors, such as Saber-toothed tiger Or the American lion. Let's get acquainted virtually with the prehistoric extinct American lion, or, as scientists call it, Panthera leo atrox.
Biological description
All lions, as well as jaguars, tigers and leopards are representatives (Felidae), belong to the subfamily Pantherinae - big cats, and the genus Panthera (panther). According to the evolution of this species, it took place about 900,000 years ago in what is today modern Africa. Subsequently, representatives of this species settled most territory of the Holarctic. The earliest remains of predators in Europe were found near the Italian city of Isernia, and their age was determined at 700,000 years. About 300,000 years ago, a cave lion lived on the Eurasian continent. Thanks to the isthmus, which at that time connected America with Eurasia, part of the population of these cave predators came through Alaska and Chukotka to North America, where, due to prolonged isolation, a new subspecies of lions, the American ones, was formed.
family ties
As a result of a long-term joint work carried out by researchers from Russia, England, Australia and Germany, it was found that there were three types of lions on our planet. Today, a modern lion lives in a rather small area. But before him there were two prehistoric and now extinct species. First of all, this (Panthera leo spelaea), who lived in the west of Canada and on the territory of almost all of Eurasia in the Pleistocene. In addition, there was also the American lion (Panthera leo atrox), who lived in the territory of the modern United States. And also in some parts of South America. It is also called the North American lion, or the giant jaguar Negele. As a result of research on the genetic material of fossil animals and modern predators it was possible to establish that all three species of lions are very close in their genome. But here's what else scientists have found out: the American lion subspecies has been in genetic isolation for more than 340,000 years, and during this time it has become very different from the rest of the subspecies.
Where did they come from?
Initially, the lions that came from Africa settled the territory of Eurasia and only then crossed the isthmus of Beringia, which connected North America with the Eurasian continent in those distant times, and began to explore the new continent. Scientists suggest that the emergence of two different species in North America is associated with the isolation of representatives of these two populations as a result of glaciation. According to another hypothesis different kinds: Cave and American lions - are representatives of two waves of migration from Eurasia, quite far removed from each other in time.
What did he look like?
Like other American lions, it disappeared about 10,000 years ago. At one time, it was one of the largest and most dangerous animals: its length could reach three meters or even more, and its weight reached 300 for females, and up to 400 kg for males. Among scientists there is still no agreement on the question of whether this animal had a mane, like his modern descendant, or not. However, they describe his appearance quite definitely: on powerful legs there was a dense, muscular body, crowned with a large head, and behind was a long tail. The color of the skin, as the researchers suggest, was monophonic, but, possibly, changed seasonally. The most morphologically close to the American lion are ligers - the offspring of a tigress and a lion. It is difficult to imagine what the American lion looked like from the description. Photo of reconstruction of it appearance help to understand how similar it is to its modern "relative".
Where did you live?
As a result archaeological sites the remains of this animal were discovered for quite a large area: from Peru to Alaska. This allowed scientists to assert that the American lion lived not only in North, but also in certain regions of South America. Many remains of this animal were discovered near Los Angeles. Even today, despite the significant advances in science, scientists cannot name the exact and specific reasons that caused the disappearance of this predator about 10,000 years ago. There are hypotheses about the depletion of food lands and the death of animals that served as food for American lions due to glaciation and change climatic conditions. There is also a version of involvement in the extermination of this formidable predator.
Food and competitors
american lion at one time could hunt the ancestors of modern wapiti and bison, as well as extinct bush bulls, western camels, and horses (Equus). At the same time, other large predators, also extinct.
To protect their prey and hunting grounds, lions could unite in groups. Defending their food and territory, the American lion fought against the saber-toothed tiger (Machairodontinae), dire ancient wolves (Canis dirus) and short-faced bears (Arctodus simus).
Mammoth Columbus- one of the largest mammoths that ever existed on earth, a relative of the more common woolly mammoth. The remains of Colombian mammoths were found on the way from Canada to Mexico. famous woolly mammoths left their traces in North Asia, Russia, Canada. Their main difference is that the Colombian mammoths were practically not covered with wool, which brings them closer to modern elephants, and their tusks were much larger than those of woolly mammoths.
The growth of Colombian mammoths was approximately 3-4 m, and the weight reached 5-10 tons. Colombian mammoths are the owners of the largest tusks among the elephant family. 3.5 in length, rounded, incredibly strong, they were used to fight all predators, including humans.
Giant sloths. Today, the sloth is one of the cutest creatures, photos with which are gaining millions of “likes” on social networks. Their ancient ancestors did not seem so charming.
Several species of giant sloths are known. Those who lived in the area North America, were the size of rhinos, and ancient man, perhaps, they often dined. However, the largest of the giant sloths, Megatheria, lived in South Africa about 10 thousand years ago and were not the size of smaller elephant. About 6 m from head to tail, weighing 4 tons, with sharp teeth and long nails, sloths seemed to be quite formidable animals. Moreover, there is an assumption that they were predators.
The last species of giant sloths lived on Caribbean Islands about 4.2 thousand years ago. 
Gigantopithecus the largest primate ever to stomp the earth. This relative of the orangutans deserved its name: a three-meter animal weighed 500 kg and was huge even for the prehistoric world. Interestingly, Gigantopithecus is very similar to images of the Yeti. True, Gigantopithecus died out 100 thousand years ago. In addition, if then the giant primates did not even think of hiding from people, then it is unlikely that any of them are now hiding in the highlands, scaring tourists under the guise of a Bigfoot.
Gigantopithecus lived on Earth for about 6-9 million years, eating fruits South-East Asia. But with climate change rainforests turned into arid savannas, and Gigantopithecus began to die out from lack of food. 
cave hyena reached 1 m in height at the shoulders and weighed from 80 to 100 kg. According to calculations based on the study of fossil remains, the cave hyena was able to knock down a 5-year-old mastodon, which weighed a whole ton.
Cave hyenas lived in packs, sometimes consisting of 30 individuals. This made them stronger hunters: together they could attack a 9-year-old mastodon weighing all 9 tons. Needless to say, a person hardly dreamed of meeting a flock of hungry hyenas.
The population of cave hyenas began to decline 20 thousand years ago and finally disappeared 11-13 thousand years ago. As one of the reasons that influenced the extinction of cave hyenas, scientists suggest a struggle with humans for cave space during the last ice age.
Smilodon- an extinct species saber-toothed cats, contrary to stereotypes, having little in common with saber-toothed tigers.
Saber-toothed cats first appeared 42 million years ago. There were many species of them, most of which died out before the appearance of man. However, at least two species of saber-toothed cats could be found by primitive man in America. They were the size of a modern African lion and weighed as much as an Amur tiger.
Smilodon was an incredibly strong animal - he could easily attack a mammoth. Smilodon used a special tactic: at first, he waited for prey, approached imperceptibly and quickly attacked.
Despite its "saber-toothed", smilodon among cats does not have the most powerful bite. So, the bite of a modern lion is perhaps three times stronger. But on the other hand, the mouth of the smilodon swung open at 120 degrees, which is half the capabilities of the current lion. 
dire wolf- no, “terrible” is not an epithet here, but the name of a species of wolves that lived in North America. Dire wolves appeared about a quarter of a million years ago. They are similar to modern gray wolves, but much more hardy. Their length reached 1.5 m, and their weight was about 90 kg.
The dire wolf's bite force was 29% stronger than the bite force gray wolf. Their main diet was horses. Like many other carnivores, dire wolf died out 10 thousand years ago during the last ice age. 
american lion, despite the name "lion", was closer to the modern panther than to the lion. American lions inhabited the territory of North America about 330 thousand years ago.
The American Lion is the largest known wild cats in history. On average, an individual weighed about 350 kg, was incredibly strong and easily attacked a bison. So even the group primitive people would not be thrilled to meet one of the American lions. Like previous companions, American lions became extinct during the last ice age. 
Megalania- the largest of known to science lizards - lived in Australia and began to disappear about 50 thousand years ago, that is, at the same time as a person began to populate the continent.
The size of megalania is the subject of scientific debate. According to some data, its length reached 7 m, but there is an opinion that average length was about 3.5 m. But not only the size is important: megalania was a poisonous lizard. If her victim did not die from blood loss, then she certainly died from poisoning - in any case, hardly anyone managed to escape alive from the mouth of megalania. 
short-faced bear- one of those types of bears that he could encounter primitive. The ancient bear was about 1.5 meters at the shoulders, but as soon as he stood on his hind legs, he stretched up to 4 meters. If this doesn’t sound scary enough, then add this detail: thanks to the long limbs, the bear developed a speed of up to 64 km / h. And this means that Hussein Bolt, whose record is 45 km / h, would have easily got him for dinner.
Giant short-faced bears were one of the largest carnivores in North America. They appeared about 800 thousand years ago, and died out 11.6 thousand years ago. 
quincans, land crocodiles appeared quite a long time ago - 1.6 million ago in Australia. The giant ancestors of crocodiles reached 7 m in length. Unlike crocodiles, Quinkans lived and hunted on land. In this they were helped by long powerful legs in order to catch up with prey at great distances, and sharp teeth. The fact is that crocodiles use their teeth mainly to capture the victim, drag her water and drown. The teeth of the land Quincan were intended for killing, they dug in and literally cut the victim. Quincans died out about 50 thousand years ago, having lived for about 10 thousand years side by side with primitive man. 
Before man became a hunter and made his way to the top of the food chain, cats were the most successful and powerful predators. Even today, felines such as tigers, lions, jaguars and leopards are still admired and feared, but even they cannot outshine their extinct ancestors.
giant cheetah
The giant cheetah belongs to the same genus as modern cheetahs. And it looked similar, but was much larger. Weighing up to 150 kg, the cheetah was as big as an African lion and could prey on big booty. Some suggest that the giant cheetah could accelerate to 115 km / h! This beast lived in Europe and Asia during the Pliocene and Pleistocene. Extinct during the last ice age.
Xenosmilus
Xenosmilus is a relative of Smilodon (the famous saber-toothed tiger), but instead of long, blade-like fangs, it had shorter teeth. They looked more like the teeth of a shark and a carnivorous dinosaur than the teeth of a modern cat. This creature hunted from an ambush and killed the victim, tearing out pieces of meat from it. Xenosmilus was quite large by today's standards - weighing up to 230 kg, and in size it looked like an adult lion or tiger. The remains of this cat were found in Florida.
giant jaguar
Today, jaguars are rather small animals compared to lions and tigers, usually weighing 60-100 kg. In prehistoric times, North and South America were home to giant jaguars. These cats had much longer limbs and tail than the modern jaguar. Scientists believe that jaguars lived on open plains, but due to rivalry with lions and other big cats, they were forced to find themselves more wooded area. Giant prehistoric jaguars were the size of a lion or tiger and very strong.
European jaguar
Unlike the giant jaguar mentioned, the European jaguar did not belong to the same species as modern jaguars. No one knows what this prehistoric cat looked like. Some scientists believe that most likely it looked like modern spotted felines, or maybe a cross between a lion and a jaguar. Obviously, this creature was a dangerous predator, weighed up to 210 kg and was at the top of the food chain 1.5 million years ago. His remains have been found in Germany, France, England, Spain and the Netherlands.
cave lion
The cave lion is a subspecies of a lion of very large size and weighing up to 300 kg. This is one of the most dangerous and strong predators who lived during the last ice age in Europe. There is evidence that he was feared and possibly worshiped by prehistoric people. Many drawings and several figurines depicting a cave lion have been found. Interestingly, this lion was depicted without a mane.
Homotherium
Homotherium was one of the most dangerous representatives feline in prehistoric times, lived in the North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. It has adapted well to environmental conditions, including the subarctic tundra, and lived for 5 million years before its extinction 10,000 years ago. Outwardly, Homotherium differed from other large cats. The forelimbs were somewhat longer than the hind limbs, resembling a hyena. The structure of the hind limbs of Homotherium indicates that it jumped worse than modern cats. Maybe Homotherius was not the most big predator, but some finds show that the mass of this cat reached 400 kg, which is more than the mass of the modern Siberian tiger.
Machairod
Unlike Smilodon, which was a classic saber-toothed tiger, its short tail had different body proportions from a real tiger. The Mahairods, on the other hand, looked like giant tigers with saber teeth, as well as similar proportions and long tail. Whether the beast had stripes is unknown. Found in Chad, Africa, machairod remains suggest that this creature was one of the largest cats of all time. It weighed up to 500 kg and was the size of a horse. He hunted elephants, rhinos and other herbivores. Machairod most likely looked like giant tiger from the movie 10,000 B.C.
american lion
After Smilodon, this is probably the most famous prehistoric cat. It lived in North and South America during the Pleistocene and became extinct 11,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age. Most scientists argue that the American lion was a giant relative of the modern lion. Its weight was 470 kg. There is some debate about his hunting technique, but he most likely hunted alone.
Pleistocene tiger
This is the most mysterious beast on the list, known from fragmentary remains. Is not separate view, but rather an early version of the modern tiger. Tigers evolved in Asia 2 million years ago to prey on a variety of huge herbivores that lived on the continent at the time. Tigers are the largest members of the cat family. However, during the Pleistocene period, there was more food, and therefore tigers were also larger. Some remains have been found in Russia, China and the island of Java.
Smilodon
The most famous cat, which had teeth similar to a dagger or a knife with a long straight blade, can be called Smilodon. He and his close relatives were distinguished by long serrated fangs and a short-legged muscular body resembling a bear. Strong physique did not allow them to run fast over long distances, so they most likely attacked from an ambush. Well, scimitar-toothed cats relied on speed, having long limbs, like those of cheetahs, as well as not so long and more roughly serrated fangs. Smilodons became extinct 10,000 years ago, which means they lived at the same time as humans and may have hunted them.
They are teetering on the brink of extinction due to destruction of ecological systems and loss of habitat. In the following paragraphs of the article, you will learn about 10 extinct species of tigers and lions that have disappeared from the face of the Earth over the past few thousand years.
Despite its name, the American cheetah had more in common with cougars than with modern cheetahs. His slender, lithe body, like that of a cheetah, is most likely the result of convergent evolution(the tendency of heterogeneous organisms to adopt similar body shapes and behaviors when developed under similar conditions). In the case of Miracinonyx, the grassy plains of North America and Africa had almost identical conditions, which played a role in the emergence of outwardly similar animals. American cheetahs became extinct at the end of the last ice age, about 10,000 years ago, possibly due to human encroachment on their territory.
As in the case of the American cheetah (see previous paragraph), the relationship of the American lion with modern lions causes a lot of controversy. According to some reports, this predator of the Pleistocene era is more closely related to tigers and jaguars. The American lion coexisted and competed with other superpredators of those times, such as the saber-toothed tiger, the giant short-faced bear and dire wolf.
If the American lion was actually a subspecies of the lion, then it was the largest of its kind. Some alpha males reached a mass of up to 500 kg.
As you might guess from the name of the animal, the Bali tiger was native to the Indonesian island of Bali, where the last individuals died out only about 50 years ago. For thousands of years, the Bali tiger has been at odds with the indigenous human settlements in Indonesia. However, the neighborhood with local tribes did not pose a serious threat to these tigers until the arrival of the first European traders and mercenaries who ruthlessly hunted Bali tigers for sport and sometimes to protect their animals and homesteads.
One of the most formidable subspecies of the lion was the Barbary lion - a valuable property of medieval British lords who wanted to intimidate their peasants. Several large individuals made their way from North Africa to the zoo located in the Tower of London, where many British aristocrats were previously imprisoned and executed. The male Barbary lions had particularly thick manes, and reached a mass of about 500 kg, which made them one of the largest lions ever to live on Earth.
There is a high likelihood of a resurgence of the Barbary lion subspecies in wild nature by selecting his offspring, scattered throughout the zoos of the world.
The Caspian lion has a precarious position in the classification of big cats. Some naturalists argue that these lions should not be classified as a separate subspecies, considering the Kaispi lion to be simply a geographical offshoot of the still extant Transvaal lion. In fact, it is very difficult to distinguish a single subspecies from isolated population. In any case, the last specimens of these representatives of big cats became extinct at the end of the 19th century.
6. Turan tiger, or Transcaucasian tiger, or Caspian tiger
Of all the big cats that have become extinct in the last 100 years, the Turanian tiger had the most geographical distribution, ranging from Iran to the vast, windswept steppes of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The greatest damage to this subspecies was caused by Russian empire, which bordered on the habitats of the Caspian tiger. Tsarist officials encouraged the destruction of the Turanian tigers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
As with the Barbary lion, the Caspian tiger can be reintroduced into the wild through selective breeding of its offspring.
Probably, the cave lion, along with the saber-toothed tiger, is one of the most famous extinct big cats. Oddly enough, but cave lions did not live in caves. They got their name because many fossils of these lions have been found in the caves of Europe, visited by sick or dying individuals.
An interesting fact is that paleontologists attribute as many as three subspecies to the European lion: Panthera leo europaea, Panthera leo tartarica and Panthera leo fossilis. They are combined relatively big sizes bodies (some males weighed about 200 kg, females were slightly smaller) and susceptibility to encroachment and seizure of territories by representatives of the early European civilization: for example, European lions often participated in gladiator fights in the arenas of ancient Rome.
Javan tiger, like his close relative the Bali tiger (see point 3) was limited to one island in the Malay Archipelago. Despite relentless hunting, the main reason for the extinction of the Javan tiger was the loss of habitat due to the rapid growth of the human population in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The last Javan tiger was seen in the wild decades ago. Given the overpopulation of the island of Java, no one has high hopes for the restoration of this subspecies.
10. Smilodon (saber-toothed tiger)
FROM scientific point sight of smilodon, it has nothing to do with modern tigers. However, given its overall popularity, the saber-toothed tiger deserves a mention in this list of extinct big cats. The saber-toothed tiger was one of the most dangerous predators Pleistocene era, capable of sinking its huge fangs into the neck of large mammals of those times.