A genetic analysis of ice age cave lions shows this specie to be discrete from innovative lions , ending a long - standing mystery story . What ’s more , the new grounds advise these fearsome creatures diverged into two distinct derivation .
During the Pleistocene , lion lived across much of the Northern Hemisphere , including in Siberia . The northmost of these beasts , dubbed “ cave king of beasts , ” lived far outside the conventional geographic reach of lions today . Paleontologists have questioned the origin of cave king of beasts for age , wondering if they were modern lions that guess fashion up northerly or if they represented an entirely unlike coinage .
A newpaperin Scientific Reports appear to have settle this debate . By analyzing and compare gobs of gene sequences and sketching an evolutionary family Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree of these ancient felines , scientist from the Centre for Palaeogenetics at Stockholm University have shown that lions and cave lions were distinguishable species . What ’s more , the cave Leo branched off into two subtly different lineages , having break into a group that lived in Siberia and a group that lived further west in Europe , according to the newfangled research , co - authored by evolutionary geneticist Love Dalén .
Well-preserved remains of 28,000-year-old cave lion cub, found two years ago in Siberia.Image: Love Dalén
In sum , the research worker analyze 31 mitochondrial genome sequences , including DNA take from an fine preserved cave lion laddie ascertain two years ago in Siberia . The laddie , go steady to 28,000 years old , is one of the better - preserve animals ever obtain from the last ice long time .
“ We sequenced deoxyribonucleic acid from cave social lion bones , tooth , and in one case a piece of skin from an exceptionally well - preserved cave lion carcass , from across their historic range , ” David Stanton , the first writer of the new newspaper and a former Marie - Curie Fellow at the Centre for Palaeogenetics , said in an e-mail . “ By measuring departure in the DNA , our good estimate for when cave lions and modern lions separated was 1.85 million class ago — much Old than the schism between any populations of lions that are around today . ”
The dataset included several samples onetime than 100,000 class old , which revealed the stock split between the western and eastern cave lions . This result enmesh well with premature work showing that cave Leo , like modern lions , had different forcible features depending on where they lived .
Remains of a 28,000-year-old cave lion cub.Image: Love Dalén
Cave lions “ looked similar to New lions , however they are believe to be slightly bigger , ” said Stanton . Fascinatingly , Pleistocene human , who lived alongside cave lions during the last trash long time , painted these lions on cave walls . base on these renderings , it appears that cave lions were very similar to modern lions , but they lacked manes , he explained .
“ These animals would have lived in a landscape that was cool and ironic and reign by opened grassland — much of which disappear after the last Ice Age , ” enounce Stanton . “ They experience alongside animals such as bison and horse , as well as other animal that went extinct at a similar time to cave Leo , such as muzzy rhino and wooly-minded mammoth . ”
These Frozen Lion Cubs Were Just a Few Weeks Old When They Died 12,000 age Ago
A specimen analyzed in the new study.Image: Love Dalén
The two cave Leo lineages that lived in Pleistocene Eurasia likely feasted on different target , with the eastern translation preying on bison and horses and the western translation on caribou , according to the study .
ice agePaleontologyScience
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