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 Xur, 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 with noise. 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 stones suitable for making fire and making 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, 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.

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. 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.

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!

It's because the earth was shaking, Zur 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, without hesitation, he 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 crevice of 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 strip of dazzling blue sky could be seen.

cave lion(Panthera leo spelaea), is an extinct subspecies of lions that lived during the Pleistocene period in Europe and Siberia.

The cave lion was probably the largest member of the cat family, larger than the Ussuri tiger.

For the first time, a cave lion was described by a skull by a German doctor who natural sciences, Georg August Goldfuss.

In Europe, the lion appeared about 700 thousand years ago and probably descended from Mosbach lion.

Mosbach the lions were bigger modern lions, the body length was up to 2.5 m (not including the tail), and they were about half a meter taller.

It is from the Mosbach lion that, as it is believed, the cave lion originated about 300 thousand years ago, which spread throughout Eurasia.

There was and East Siberian caveman a lion , in the north and northeast of Eurasia, probably through Berengia, it also entered America, leaving for the south of the American continent, where it formed american lion.

american lion

The extinction of the East Siberian and European species lions occurred about 10 thousand years ago, at the end of the last, Valdai (Wurm) glaciation.

There is evidence that the European subspecies of the cave lion was found for some time in the Balkans, but it is not clear whether it was a cave lion or another subspecies.

In 1985, near the German town of Siegsdorf, the skeleton of a male cave lion was found, which was a little over 2 meters long and 1.2 m high, which approximately corresponded to the parameters of a modern lion.

Cave lions were about 5-10 percent taller than modern lions, although they were smaller than American or Mosbach lions.

There are unique Paleolithic rock paintings in the France Vogelherdhöhle caves, in Alsace, and in the south of France, in the Chauvet cave.

The lion was a totem for ancient man, as was the cave bear.

Lions lived in Europe and northern Asia not only during the interglacial period, but during the period of glaciation themselves, apparently the cold was not terrible for them, and there was enough food.

In 2004, scientists from Germany managed to find out, as a result of DNA research, that The cave lion is not a separate species, but a subspecies of the lion..

During the Pleistocene, the northern lions formed their own group, different from the African and Southeastern lions. This group included Mosbach lion, cave lion East Siberian lion and American lion.

Nowadays, all types of lions belong to the so-called "Leo" group, and all types of lions began to diverge about 600 thousand years ago.

Some types of disappeared american lion were much larger than the Mosbach lion and, therefore, were the largest predators cat family that were present on our Earth.

Asian lion (Panthera leo persica) was distributed throughout southern Eurasia from Greece to India. Now about 300 individuals have survived in the Gir reserve in the state of Gujarat, India.

In the 1990s, to save the endangered population, India donated several pairs of Asiatic lions to European zoos.

The Asian or Indian subspecies of the lion has a mass of 150 to 220 kg, mostly 160-190 kg in males, and 90-150, usually 110-120 kg, in females. His mane is not so thick, and fits closer to the body.

The Asian lion has a squat body, which creates a deceptive impression of its smaller size compared to the African. But the record length of an Asian lion is almost three meters.

In India, until about the middle of the last century, lions lived in Punjab, Gujarat and even in West Bengal.

On the Kathiyawar peninsula (in the southwest), in the Gir forest, a small population of Asiatic lions is still preserved, but there are less than 150 individuals left. These lions were taken under state protection in 1900.

And the last Indian lion was killed in 1884.

barbary lion (panthera leo leo), an extinct subspecies of the lion, originally distributed in North Africa. Some individuals of lions currently living in captivity are probably descended from Barbary lions, but there are no longer purebred representatives of the subspecies among them.

It was the Barbary lions that were used by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 to describe and classify lions. The weight of males ranged from 160 to 250 kg, less often 270 kg, females - from 100 to 170 kg.

barbary lion, along with the extinct cape lion (Panthera leo melanochaitus), was the largest modern subspecies of the lion. His most notable difference was a particularly thick dark mane that extended well past his shoulders and hung down over his belly.

The Barbary lion in historical times was found throughout the African continent, located north of the Sahara.

The Barbary lion lived, in addition to the North African semi-deserts and savannahs, also in the Atlas Mountains. He hunted deer, wild boars and bubals (a kind of dog-headed monkeys).

The ancient Romans often used the Barbary lion in "pleasure fights" against the Turanian tiger, also extinct, or to fight gladiators.

Spreading firearms and a deliberate policy of exterminating the Barbary lion has caused its population to be greatly reduced in North Africa and the Atlas Mountains. And at the beginning of the 18th century, the Barbary lion almost disappeared in North Africa, leaving only a small area in the northwest.

The last free Barbary lion was shot in the Moroccan part of the Atlas Mountains in 1922.

Initially, scientists proceeded from the fact that the Barbary lions became extinct in captivity. However, the Moroccan rulers received lions as a gift from the nomadic Berber tribes, even when these animals had already become quite rare.

IN late XIX century in the London Zoo lived a purebred Barbary lion named Sultan.

Those lions that in 1970 the Moroccan king Hassan II transferred to the zoo in Rabat were probably direct descendants of the Barbary lions, at least in phenotype, morphology, they clearly corresponded to the historical description of the Barbary lions.

The Addis Ababa Zoo has 11 lions that may be descendants of the Barbary lions. Their ancestors were the property of Emperor Haile Selassie I.

At the end of the 20th century, about 50 lions descended from the Barbary lived in zoos, however, there is evidence that they are not purebred, and have admixtures of other species.

cape lion (Panthera leo melanochaitus) is an extinct subspecies of lions. Cape lions lived on the southern coast of the African continent.

They were not the only subspecies of lions that lived on the territory of South Africa, and the exact range of their distribution has not yet been fully established.

The main habitat of the lions was the Cape province in the vicinity of Cape Town. The last Cape lion was killed in 1858.

Male Cape lions were characterized by a long mane that extended over the shoulders and covered the abdomen, as well as noticeable black tips of the ears.

The results of a study of the DNA of Cape lions revealed that this is not a separate subspecies, but most likely the Cape lion is only the most southern population. transvaal lion (Panthera leo krugeri).

Transvaal lion, also known as southeast african lion, a subspecies of the lion that lives in southern Africa, including the Kruger National Park. The name comes from the Transvaal region in South Africa.

Like all lions (with the exception of lions from National Park Tsavo), the male Transvaal lion has a mane. Males spend most of their time guarding their territory, while lionesses take on the responsibility of hunting and providing food for the pride.

Males reach a length of up to three meters (usually 2.5 cm), including the tail. Lionesses are smaller - about 2.5 meters. The weight of a male is usually 150-250 kg, females - 110-180 kg. The height at the withers reaches 90-125 cm.

This type of lion is characterized leucism, lack of melanin associated with mutation. The coat of the animal becomes light-light gray, sometimes even almost white, and the skin under it is pink (due to the absence of melanocytes).

Lions were also found in ancient Greece

A.A. Kazdym

List of used literature

Sokolov V.E. Rare and endangered animals. Mammals. M.: 1986. S. 336

Alekseeva L.I., Alekseev M.N. Triofauna of the Upper Pleistocene of Eastern Europe ( large mammals)

Zedlag W. Animal world Earth. M., Mir. 1975.

Zoological journal. Volume 40, Issues 1-6, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow State University. M. V. Lomonosov. Zoo museum

West M., Packer C. Sexual selection, temperature, and the lion's mane. Washington DC. 2002

Barnett R., Yamaguchi N., I. Barnes, A. Cooper: Lost populations and preserving genetic diversity in the lion Panthera leo, Implications for its ex situ conservation. Kluwer, Dordrecht. 2006

Ronald M. Nowak Walker's Mammals of the World, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999

Barton M. Wildes Amerika Zeugen der Eiszeit. Egmont Verlag, 2003

Turner A. The big cats and their fossil relatives. Columbia University Press, 1997.

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Before man climbed to the top of the food chain, wild cats were the strongest and most successful hunters. Even today, these huge predators cause fear and at the same time admiration in a person who is not a competitor to them in hunting. And yet, prehistoric cats were much better in every way, especially when it comes to hunting. Today's article presents the 10 largest prehistoric felines.

The prehistoric cheetah belongs to the same genus as today's cheetahs. His appearance was very similar to the appearance of the modern cheetah, but its ancestor was many times larger. The giant cheetah was more like a modern lion in size, because its weight sometimes reached 150 kilograms, so the cheetah easily hunted larger animals. According to some reports, the ancient cheetahs were able to accelerate at speeds up to 115 kilometers per hour. The wild cat lived in the territory modern Europe and Asia, but could not survive the Ice Age.




This dangerous animal does not exist today, but there was a time when xenosmilus, along with other predatory cats, headed the food chain of the planet. Outwardly, he very much resembled a saber-toothed tiger, but unlike him, xenosmilus had much shorter teeth, which were similar to those of a shark or a predatory dinosaur. The formidable predator hunted from an ambush, after which he instantly killed the prey, tearing off pieces of meat from it. Xenosmilus was very large, sometimes its weight reached 230 kilograms. Little is known about the animal's habitat. The only place where it was possible to find his remains is Florida.




Currently, jaguars do not differ in particularly large sizes, as a rule, their weight is only 55-100 kilograms. As it turned out, they were not always so. In the distant past, the modern territory of South and North America was filled with giant jaguars. Unlike the modern jaguar, they had longer tails and limbs, and their size was several times larger. According to scientists, the animals lived on the open plains along with lions and some other wild cats, and as a result of constant rivalry, they were forced to change their place of residence to more woodlands. The size of a giant jaguar was equated to a modern tiger.




If the giant jaguars belonged to the same genus as modern ones, then the European jaguars belonged to a completely different one. Unfortunately, today it is still not known what the European jaguar looked like, but some information about it is still known. For example, scientists claim that the weight of this cat was more than 200 kilograms, and the habitat was such countries as Germany, England, the Netherlands, France and Spain.




Such a lion is considered a subspecies of the lion. Cave lions were incredibly large, and their weight reached 300 kilograms. Terrible predators lived in Europe after ice age, where they were considered one of the most dangerous creatures on the planet. Some sources say that these animals were sacred animals, so they were worshiped by many peoples, and perhaps they were simply afraid. Scientists have repeatedly found various figurines and drawings depicting a cave lion. It is known that cave lions did not have a mane.




One of the scariest and dangerous representatives wild cats prehistoric time is homotherium. The predator lived in the countries of Europe, Asia, Africa, South and North America. The animal adapted so well to the climate of the tundra that it could live for more than 5 million years. The appearance of Homotherium was markedly different from the appearance of all wild cats. The front limbs of this giant were much longer than the hind limbs, which made it look like a hyena. This structure suggests that Homotherium did not jump very well, especially in contrast to modern cats. Although homoteria cannot be called the most, its weight reached a record 400 kilograms. This suggests that the beast was larger than even a modern tiger.




The appearance of the mahairod is similar to the appearance of the tiger, but it is much larger, with a longer tail and huge fangs-knives. Whether he had the characteristic stripes of a tiger is still not known. The remains of mahairod were found in Africa, which indicates its place of residence, in addition, archaeologists are convinced that this wild cat was one of the largest of those times. The weight of mahairod reached half a ton, and in size it resembled a modern horse. Rhinos, elephants and other large herbivores formed the basis of the predator's diet. According to most scholars, the appearance of the Mahairod is most accurately shown in the film of 10,000 BC.




Of all the prehistoric wild cats known to mankind, the American lion is the second most famous after the Smilodon. Lions lived on the territory of modern Northern and South America, and died out about 11 thousand years ago at the very end of the ice age. Many scientists are convinced that this giant predator was relatives of today's lion. The weight of an American lion could reach 500 kilograms. There is a lot of controversy about his hunting, but most likely the beast hunted alone.




The most mysterious animal from the entire list was in second place among the largest cats. This tiger is not a separate species, most likely it is distant relative modern tiger. These giants lived in Asia, where they hunted very large herbivores. Everyone knows that today tigers are the largest representatives of the cat family, but such large tigers as in prehistoric times are not even close today. The Pleistocene tiger was unusually large, and according to the remains found, it even lived in Russia.




The most famous representative of the cat family of prehistoric times. Smilodon had huge teeth like sharp knives and a muscular body with short legs. His body slightly resembled the body modern bear, although he did not have the clumsiness that a bear has. The amazingly built body of a predator allowed him to run at high speed even over long distances. Smilodons died out about 10 thousand years ago, which means that they lived at the same time as humans, and possibly even hunted them. Scientists believe that smilodons attacked the victim from an ambush.


Thousands of years ago, the planet Earth was inhabited by various animals, which then died out for various reasons. Now these animals are often called fossils. Their remains in the form of preserved skeletal bones and skulls are found during 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. The cave lion is one of the types of ancient creatures that terrified smaller brothers. Even primitive people tried to bypass its habitats.

Fossil predator cave lion

It was in this way that the oldest species of fossil predator, which scientists called the cave lion, was discovered and described. 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 cave lion was made by 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, titled "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 on the study of this fossil animal. Haloarctic scientists call a significant part of the northern hemisphere.

Description of the animal

The cave lion was a 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. The cave lions did not have a mane, as evidenced by the cave paintings of primitive people. But the brush on the tail is present in many drawings. The ancient predator inspired 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 fangs 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 protection using fire could save people or some 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, which 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, deprived of the necessary food, and after them predators began to die out.

Man as a reason mass death fossil animals for a 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.

And now a detailed article has arrived on these beasts with preliminary results research findings:

"Development of the Arctic zone of Russia in last years brings a lot of discoveries of ancient frozen mummies of mammals of the ice age. Nevertheless, the discovery of two cubs of a cave lion in the territory of Yakutia in the summer of 2015 became a real sensation. The mummies of ancient Pleistocene lions have never fallen into the hands of scientists before.

Thanks to the findings in different corners The Old World knows that ancient cats in Eurasia lived in a territory stretching from the New Siberian Islands to China and from Spain to Alaska.

At the end of the Ice Age, another name for which is the Pleistocene period, the ancient lion lived among the tundra steppes along with animals such as mammoths, musk oxen and reindeer, and was the strongest and dangerous predator. It belongs to the species Panthera spelaea(Goldfuss, 1810) of the cat family ( Felidae), detachment predatory mammals (Carnivora), which became extinct at the end of the Ice Age. The morphology of the cave lion simultaneously combines the features of a lion and a tiger. Disputes about which of the big cats this beast is closer to are still ongoing. But it is important to note that he was not the ancestor of either modern lions or tigers.

The Russian names for these extinct animals are the cave lion, the Pleistocene lion, the tiger lion. The latter was given by the Russian paleontologist N. K. Vereshchagin, who was one of the first to note the transitional exterior ancient lion- an intermediate appearance between the modern lion and tiger. scientific name Panthera spelaea the predator got it because for the first time its bones were found in caves (from lat. spelaea- caves) of Europe at the beginning of the century, and so far only one whole skeleton of this animal is known
an extinct species found in Bavaria.

Judging by the drawings of the Paleolithic era and the morphology of its bones, the cave lion was similar in appearance to the females of modern African and Asian lions and partly to modern Far Eastern tigers. The cave lion is characterized by a relatively larger head than that of modern lions and tigers. This confirms the ratio of the size of the skull of an ancient animal with the size of other bones of its skeleton. In addition, the skull of the ancient lion was relatively longer and narrower than that of lions and tigers, and therefore its muzzle is narrower and longer.

The most realistic depiction of cave lions in Chauvet Cave,
France, province of Ardeche. The age of the drawings is more than 30 thousand years.

According to the images of the cave lion made by the first artists, the ancient predator was of a dense physique with developed subcutaneous fat on the abdomen, which sagged, like in Amur tigers. Another feature of cave lions is the relatively large length of their limbs. From images from caves in Europe, it is also known that there were faint spots on the sides of the body, but the general color of the coat was uniform, the tail was shorter than that of a modern lion, and without a spherical tassel at the end. Ancient artists never depicted cave lions with a mane, and only occasionally emphasized the presence of short hair and even “suspension” under the lower jaw. Features of hair growth on the head of the Pleistocene lion resemble those of the Far Eastern tiger. He had small rounded ears and sideburns, which ancient artists emphasized.

In terms of size, the cave lion, on average, surpassed modern lions and tigers. At the same time, the Pleistocene lions of different populations differed from each other. In Europe, they were no larger than modern African lions and apparently weighed no more than 200-250 kg. Among the cave lions of Siberia and the Urals, sometimes there were giants with a skull length of more than 40 cm. The weight of such lions was at least 350 kg, and the height at the withers was about 140-150 cm. The length of the upper fangs of an ancient animal (together with the root) reached 14 cm - such predators could prey on any animals of that era.

Lions - close and distant relatives
In North America, cave lions lived in what is now Alaska and western Canada. In the more southern regions of this continent, another species of lions lived - Panthera atrox(Leidy, 1810), whose name in Latin means "terrible lion". There are no pictures of this lion, and its appearance can only be inferred from its bones and several complete skeletons found in asphalt pit traps* at the Rancho La Brea location in Los Angeles. About 10 thousand years ago, after the end of the Pleistocene period, this predator in America became extinct along with many other species of large mammals.

* In the late Pleistocene, at the foot of the hills, in an area now called Hollywood, swamps extended into which oil poured out under pressure to the surface. Animals, attracted by water, came there and stuck (in the literal sense of the word) to oil, which, under the action of atmospheric oxygen, thickened and turned into bitumen. After death, they were gradually immersed in bitumen, where their bones were preserved.

A study of mitochondrial DNA in modern and fossil lions showed that they form two groups. One group includes modern subspecies of lions from Africa and Asia, the other includes the Pleistocene lions of Eurasia and northern North America. In addition, based on the results of a molecular genetic study of the remains of lions of the second half of the Pleistocene from the northeast of Eurasia and Alaska, biologists came to the conclusion that the Pleistocene lions of this region (in the second half of the Pleistocene they formed a single area - Beringia) are closer to the Eurasian cave lions than the Pleistocene dire lions of the rest of North America.

Based on the DNA of Pleistocene and modern lions and the paleontological findings of these ancient predators, experts describe their history as follows. The oldest cats, resembling lions, appeared in Africa more than 2 million years ago. From here they settled in Eurasia, where the Mosbakh lion lived about 500 thousand years ago ( Panthera fossilis, Reichenau, 1906). From this species of predatory cats, apparently, the cave lions, who originally lived in Europe, originated. By the end of the Pleistocene, the lions that remained in Africa after migration formed the species of modern African lions, which settled from there to Eurasia.

The next stage in the evolution of cave lions is associated with the spread of this species to the northeast of Eurasia and its adaptation to a cold climate. The subspecies of the cave lion, which lived in the north of Yakutia 70-10 thousand years ago, was somewhat smaller than modern lions, and it belongs to the subspecies Baryshnikov et Boeskorov, 2013, named after paleontologist N.K. Vereshchagin. Like the European subspecies, the Yakut cave lion became extinct about 10 thousand years ago.

The post-glacial history of lions is associated with only two modern subspecies of these cats: African ( panthera leo leo J. A. All n, 1924) and Asian ( Panthera leo persica Meyer, 1826) by lions. The African lion (thought to include several subspecies) is 20-25% larger than the Asian lion, and its males have large manes. The male Asiatic lion has a smaller mane or no mane at all. The body length of an African lion without a tail length reaches 170-250 cm in males and 140-175 cm in females. Shoulder height is about 123 cm for males and 107 cm for females. The weight of large males can reach 250 kg.

Modern lions moved to Transcaucasia and Southwestern Europe, when cave lions had already died out here. Although there is little evidence of this settlement, they are supported by archaeological finds showing that lions in the first millennium BC lived in the southeast of Europe and in the Northern Black Sea region.

Findings of lion bones are known in the settlements of the Trypillia culture on the territory of modern Ukraine (VI-III millennium BC), and one find was made in the ancient settlement of Olvia (IV-II centuries BC) in the vicinity of the city of Nikolaev. Images of lions on ancient works of art of the continental part of Greece and among the Scythians of the Northern Black Sea region indicate that at that time these animals were well known to people. On the Balkan Peninsula, the bones of lions are found during excavations of settlements of the II-I millennium BC. e., and the most famous image ancient Greece- Nemean lion, killed by the mythical hero Heracles in the mountains of Kiferon (east of the Balkan Peninsula). In Transcaucasia, the maximum distribution modern species lions date back to the III-II millennium BC. e. Petroglyphs on the territory of Armenia show that lions in Transcaucasia in this era lived on the Armenian Highlands. Interestingly, the images of lions from Armenia represent animals with a large mane, like an African lion.

The disappearance of lions in Asia Minor, Transcaucasia and South-Eastern Europe occurred at the turn of our era. Unlike the extinction of the cave lion, the extinction of modern subspecies of lions is not due to climate change, but to human activity. Rapid population growth, changing landscapes, the extermination of herbivorous mammals that feed on big cats, and the active human hunt for lions, apparently, are the main reasons for the extinction of these animals in many areas of Eurasia.

In addition to direct archaeological data on lions of the historical period, there is one ancient Russian written source that suggests that these predators were distributed not only in the Northern Black Sea region, but also in the forest-steppe zone of the middle reaches of the Dnieper. In the "Instruction for Children", written by the great Kyiv prince Vladimir Monomakh, there is a mention large predator. "Teaching..." presents special interest, as it is the only secular work of art Ancient Rus', containing details of the life of that era that are not found in the annals. Monomakh describes an incident that happened to him while hunting during his reign in Turov and Chernigov (1073-1094): “A fierce beast jumped on my hips and overturned my horse, and God kept me unharmed.”

Monomakh does not call the attacked predator by his own name, unlike other animals mentioned in the "Instruction ...": wild bulls, tarpans, deer, boars, bears, wolves. The absence of the name of the animal suggests that it was rarely seen at that time. Despite the brevity of the description, the ability of a predator to jump and the strength that allows a rider with a horse to fall to the ground show that it could not be any of the predatory animals mentioned in the Teaching ... - a bear or a wolf. This makes it possible to assume that the “fierce beast” was precisely the lion. Low population forest-steppe zone basins of the Dnieper and Don, a large number of large mammals, most likely, created the conditions for the existence of separate populations of lions in the area until the beginning of the early Middle Ages.

Tiger cubs from the Uyandina River
Despite the fact that lions have been known to man since ancient times, quite a lot in the history and ecology of even modern lions remains poorly understood. At the same time, the subspecies of the Asiatic lion is already on the verge of extinction, and the range of the African subspecies has decreased by more than three times by the end of the 20th century. Data on animals that have become extinct on Earth over the past 10-12 thousand years are very important, as they can help to understand the reason for today's decrease. biodiversity. In particular, any finds of cave lions are interesting for determining the characteristics of the habitat and the reasons for the extinction of this species.

Two frozen mummies of a cave lion cub were found in the Abyisky region of Yakutia. The site is located on the right bank of the small Uyandina River, one of the left tributaries of the Indigirka River, approximately 25 km from the village of Abyiy. The discovery of lion cubs is a great success, because the mummies of predatory mammals of the Pleistocene period were not known before. The cubs were found in deposits dating from the end of the Pleistocene period, which most likely indicates that this is a subspecies of the Yakut cave lion. Panthera spelaea vereshchagini.

In recent years, interesting finds of frozen animal mummies of the Pleistocene period have been made by collectors of mammoth tusks. Collecting mammoth ivory - a traditional view economic activity population of Yakutia. At the end of July 2015, cave lion cubs were accidentally discovered by a team of subsoil users led by businessman Yakov Androsov during artificial thawing of one of the sections of the Uyandina river bank. In August 2015, the mummies were taken to Yakutsk, where they began to be examined by paleontologists from the Research Department mammoth fauna Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).

One of the finds is a complete and intact frozen mummy with wool. It can be used to describe the appearance and morphology of the cub. The mummy of the second cub is damaged, most likely by ice wedges inside the sediments in which it was buried. The head and part of the third of the body in front of it with one paw have been preserved from it. The estimated age of the lion cubs is one to three weeks. Such a conclusion can be drawn if you pay attention to the fact that the eyes of a whole found cub of a cave lion are half-open. In modern lions, cubs are born blind and their eyes fully open after about two weeks. In addition, computer scans of both finds showed that their milk teeth had not yet erupted (in modern lion cubs, milk teeth erupt three weeks after birth).

The soft tissues and fur of the cub are very well preserved. Immediately after the discovery, it was possible to straighten the tail and measure its length - about 7 cm, which is about a third of the body length. This is slightly less than that of the cubs of modern lions (about 3/5 of the body length). Claws have been preserved on the front and hind legs. Realizing the importance of their find, the members of the team, after examining, photographing and weighing, kept the mummies of the lion cubs in a frozen state, at a temperature of about −10 ° C. In a frozen state, they are preserved to this day for future research.

The cause of death of the ancient lion cubs has not yet been established. In the near future, they will be additionally examined on a CT scanner, but a preliminary similar study showed that there are no significant damages in the skeleton of a fully preserved cub. The sex of an ancient lion cub, like that of modern lion cubs, cannot be determined by external signs up to a month and a half.

At the age of one to two weeks, the cubs of modern lions remain helpless and completely dependent on their mother. The mother not only feeds them with milk, but also protects and warms them. cold weather, because the mechanism of thermoregulation is not yet fully developed in lion cubs. Before the cubs begin to walk (after 1.5-2 months), the lioness keeps at some distance from her group (pride), during the month she carries the cubs several times from one place to another in order to avoid increasing the smell in the den, which lion cubs can find other predators.

Cave lions of Yakutia
Although the way of life of the ancient lion of Yakutia remains little known, some of its features can already be judged now - after a preliminary study of the cubs found.

These predators lived in a cold climate, so their cubs were covered with thick and longer fur than the cubs of modern lions. Short tail and relatively small ears are also an adaptation to cold climates. In mammals living in similar climatic conditions, the length of the tail and the size of the ears are smaller than in closely related species living in warm climate. In addition, the found cubs show that the Yakut cave lion cubs had long limbs and they themselves were taller than their modern peers.

Scientists hope to learn about other features of the life of the cave lions of Yakutia as they study the finds, and some of them are guessed by the way of life of their modern relatives. One of the exciting questions is the structure of groups (prides) in cave lions.

The idea that cave lions did not form prides was expressed by the American paleontologist D. Guthrie. He was the first to draw attention to the fact that in African lions the formation of a large pride correlates with the size of the dominant male's mane. This secondary sexual characteristic is an indicator of the male's ability to form a pride and protect the territory he occupies. For example, the small size of the Asiatic lion's mane reflects the fact that this subspecies rarely forms groups of more than two females, and in African lions - owners of a large mane - the pride sometimes includes 20 females.

Evidence of fights between male Pleistocene lions, sometimes found on their bones, suggests that the males of these animals actively defended their territory, as, for example, tigers do. On the territory of a male tiger (an area of ​​more than 100 km 2 ) two or three tigresses can constantly live, and the male has to constantly defend his territory from the invasion of other males. The result of such fights: male tigers rarely live to be ten years old. Judging by the shoulder blade of a cave lion from Chukotka, male clashes with each other were commonplace.

Like other large mammals of the late Pleistocene period, cave lions in Yakutia lived in the tundra-steppe. At the same time, numerous finds of the bones of these lions in the caves of Europe indicate that they lived not only on the plains. In Yakutia, lions, apparently, arranged a den in dense thickets of willow in river valleys or in thickets of low trees in gullies and ravines, where it was easier to hide cubs.

Probably, the main way of hunting for Pleistocene lions was to stalk the victim, when the lion sneaked up to it up to a short throw distance of 20-50 m, and then overtook and killed it with several jumps. Plots of rugged terrain and watering holes were the most convenient for such hunts. The Alaskan cave lion has been found to prey on large animals. Here, in the permafrost, a frozen mummy of a male primitive bison partially eaten by lions has been preserved. Surprisingly, the methods of hunting bison by ancient lions did not differ from the methods of hunting buffalo by modern African lions. It can be seen from the bites and scratches on the skin of the bison that the cave lions acted in concert: one predator stopped the bison, holding it with its claws by the croup, and the other strangled it, grabbing the muzzle, clamping the mouth and nostrils of the bison with teeth and claws.

Recently, evidence has emerged that cave lions have even attacked young mammoths. On the skin of the Yuki mammoth found in 2010 in Yakutia (the absolute age is about 35 thousand years), scratches more than 10 cm long were found in the neck, legs and chest, left by the claws of a cave lion, piercing almost through the centimeter skin. Yuka, although a young seven-year-old female, weighed more than 500 kg with a height of about 160 cm at the withers. Scratches on the skin did not in themselves cause her death, but may have greatly weakened the animal.

The found mummies of the cubs of the cave lion will have to study the DNA, investigate in detail internal organs and soft tissues. Careful examination of the cub, for example, the size of the stomach and its contents will help explain the cause of his death. In the very near future, the result of determining the absolute age of this unique find from radioactive carbon from samples of the wool of lion cubs is also expected.

Candidate biological sciences Evgeny Mashchenko, Paleontological Institute. A. A. Borisyak RAS;
Doctor of Biological Sciences Gennady Boeskorov, Institute of Geology of Diamond and Precious Metals, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences;
Olga Potapova, curator of collections at the Museum of Mammoth Locations in Hot Springs, USA;
Candidate of Biological Sciences Albert Protopopov, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), "Science and Life", No. 6, 2016