Cave lions

Cave lion, also known as European cave lion and Eurasian cave lion, is the common name for a extinct, large, wild felid, Panthera leo spelaea (or P. spelaea), which lived from about 370,000 to 10,000 years ago. Known from fossils and multiple examples of prehistoric art, the cave ion is characterized by large size (larger than the modern lion), rounded, protruding ears, tufted tail, and perhaps faint, tiger-like stripes. While commonly considered an extinct subspecies of the lion (Panthera leo), the cave lion is considered by some as a separate species.

Inhabiting Europe until about the time of the last European Ice Age, the cave lion lived at the same time as Neanderthals (250,000 years ago until 30,000 years ago) and Cro-Magnon man (40,000 to 10,000 years ago) and have been depicted in cave paintings, among other art. The common name comes from their graphic appearance in caves, although they probably did not live in them.

During its time, the cave lion was one of the key members of the Pleistocene fauna in Eurasia, during which time it was widespread. For human beings, various archaeological artifacts suggest that they were featured in Paleolithic religious rituals. Also, they were hunted by human beings.