FRAGMENTS OF ICE AGE ENVIRONMENTS

Late Pleistocene lion Panthera leo spelaea (Goldfuss 1810) skull and other postcranial remains from the Sloup Cave in the Moravian Karst, Czech Republic

Cajus G. DIEDRICH

Skull of a male steppe lion Panthera leo spelaea (Goldfuss 1810) from the Sloup Cave, Moravian Karst, Czech Republic (AMB No. OK 130570): 1a – dorsal

Abstract

A male lion skull of Panthera leo spelaea (Goldfuss 1810) and postcranial remains from the Sloup Cave, Moravian Karst, Czech Republic are described, together with a partial historical find of a skeleton. These are the few known steppe lion records from the mentioned famous European cave bear and hyena den. The lion material from Sloup was found partly with some postcranial bones at a hyena den area with other accumulated hyena prey bones, but also with a skull and limb bones deeper in the cave among many cave bear remains in the cave bear den area. The absence of juvenile lion material proves again that these extinct carnivores were imported by hyenas as prey or carcasses. Such taphonomic situation of adult lion remains found deep in cave bear hibernation den caves explains more and more on the presence of lion skeleton remains in Europe. Those steppe lions were cave dwellers who were stealing their prey at hyena commuting den cave entrances, and were hunting down cave bears during their hibernation, especially in winter times. The antagonistic battle between lions and hyenas/cave bears must have ended fatally in some cases in the cave itself for the lions.

Keywords: Panthera leo spelaea (Goldfuss 1810), Sloup Cave, Czech Republic, cave bear and hyena den, palaeoecology, Late Pleistocene

***

2011, (Opera Instituti Archaeologici Sloveniae, 21), 280 pages, 44 b-w photographs, 10 drawings, 52 tables, 71 graphs and 9 maps, 20 x 29 cm hardcover, ISBN 978-961-254-257-3.

Opera 21   Top