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Figure One - Based on fossil remains, a reconstruction of the American Lion (Panthera leo atrox). Have you ever heard of the American Lion? No, not the 'African' Lion, the 'American' Lion. Well, hang on to your seats, you are just about to learn about the American Lion. When I did my research for Winds of Eden, the third book in my five-book prehistoric adventure series titled SHADOWS on the TRAIL PENTALOGY, I was looking for storylines around the biggest and baddest animal predators living around 12,000 plus years ago. I wanted the human protagonists in my book to face the same challenges that the real-life Paleoindians faced back in time, armed only with primitive weapons. If you have read any of my books in the SHADOWS on the TRAIL PENTALOGY, you know I like to put my main characters in lots of precarious and unpredictable situations, and some of these situations were with the wilder side of Pleistocene animal predators. One of the most intriguing North American Pleistocene predators was the American Lion or Panthera leo Atrox. The American Lion's most distinguishing features were its size and long, slender limbs. Based on the studies from skeletal remains, researchers estimated the weight of Panthera leo Atrox somewhere between 390 to 520 pounds, with a few specimens estimated at over 700 pounds. The American Lion's length ranged from 5.3 to 8.2 feet long. That was one big cat! As far as large cats go, only European cave lions rivaled the American Lion’s size and no cat ever rivaled the American Lion's size on the North American continent (figure two). |
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| Figure Two - Size comparison of North America's large cats during the Pleistocene. Note that the American Lion was the King of the Beasts on the continent. Photograph courtesy of Pinterest and Chris Urena. |
A passage introducing the American Lion in my prehistoric adventure book titled Winds of Eden
In the starlight, her body looked gray and ghostlike as she crept quietly through the tall grass. She was the perfect predator, the top of the food chain. As she stepped, she lifted her legs high, careful not to brush up against the stalks of tall grass. The soft pads on the bottom of her feet made little sound as she glided over the rugged terrain. She had always been exceptionally careful, but tonight she was ravenous and impatient to find food. Even though she had nothing to fear, surprise was her element.
Her nocturnal eyes picked up the tiny twinkle of light near the edge of the forest. She cautiously advanced. Her instincts made her mindful of danger. She meandered across the area, staying downwind from the light and studying the lay of the land as she quietly advanced towards her target. Occasionally, she stopped and lifted her snout high in the air, searching for smells. She had yet to pick up the scent of prey. Then a sound drew her attention. It came from the direction of the light. With her belly dragging the grass-covered ground, she slowly crept towards the source of the sound. As she moved closer, the brilliant light blinded her sensitive eyes. She smelled something new, a scent locked somewhere in her memory. Out of her throat came a low–pitched rumble.
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| Figure Three - Available at Amazon.com. Search Winds of Eden by John Bradford Branney |
It appears that the American Lion preferred living in open country based on the locations where paleontologists have found skeletal remains. According to Kurtén and Anderson in their book Pleistocene Mammals of North America, there is some evidence that Paleoindians hunted American Lions. Bones from Panthera leo atrox were found in a human garbage pile in Jaguar Cave in Idaho. Associated charcoal in the cave deposit was radiocarbon-dated to 10,370 ± 350 years BP (uncorrected radiocarbon years). Correcting this radiocarbon date would put the skeletal remains and garbage dump at around 12,000 calendar years, well within the timing in the SHADOWS on the TRAIL PENTALOGY and Winds of Eden.
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| Figure Four - Skeleton of an American Lion at the George C. Page Museum at La Brea Tar Pits. |
The genetic lineage of the American Lion or Panthera leo atrox is not without controversy. Based on skeletal remains, paleontologists still debate whether Panthera leo atrox was lion-like or jaguar-like. In the first half of the last century, French paleontologist Marcellin Boule and German paleontologist Max Hilzheimer stated that Panthera leo atrox possessed a mixture of features from both lions and jaguars. The consolidation of the American Lion's features does not match any living species. Later in the century, John Merriam and Chester Stock proposed that after studying skulls from Panthera leo atrox, the mammal more closely resembled a jaguar than a lion. In the latest study, John M. Harris and Per Christianson focused on the cranium and jaws of Panthera leo atrox and proposed them to be more jaguar-like. I am sure the debates will continue.
The bottom line is that the American Lion or Panthera leo atrox was appreciably larger and genetically different than both the living species of the African lion and the South American jaguar. Since skeletal remains cannot directly tell us what the behavior and hunting habits of Panthera leo atrox were, In Winds of Eden, I assumed the behaviors and habits of a modern-day African Lion, an open country predator.
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| Figure Five - Comparison in size between an extinct American Lion and a modern African Lion. Courtesy of Jun's Anatomy. |
An adult male African lion stands three feet high at the shoulders and weighs between 350 to 440 pounds. The African lion is a massive beast, but it is small in comparison to the extinct American Lion. The African Lion is twenty–five percent smaller than the skeletal remains of the American Lion. African lion males have manes that vary in color and fullness. There is no physical evidence whether American Lion males had manes, and if so what color the manes were. The fur coats on African lions blend well in a semi-desert environment and their belly fur oftentimes is paler to neutralize the shadows from the sun. In the starlight, African lions are gray. People have described them as ghostlike.
African lions are agile and graceful. The African lion’s spine is supple enough to allow it to press its belly against the ground while arching its back like a bow in anticipation of leaping at its prey. The African lion’s legs are powerful and they are able to leap over fences as tall as twelve feet. African lions can leap distances of over forty feet and they can run at over forty miles per hour for short bursts. It is hard to imagine what the much larger Panthera leo atrox could do. Once the lion catches its prey, it uses its claws and forelimbs like grappling hooks to seize and drag the prey to their mouths. Like most carnivores, the African lion has two pairs of blade-like carnassial teeth located about halfway between the front of the jaw and the jaw joint. The carnassial teeth work together like scissors, allowing lions and other carnivores to slice off strips of flesh. Surprise is a key element in the African Lion's attack.
An African lion lives and hunts in a pride which is a lion's social unit. A pride typically consists of five females, two males, and the young. While females do most of the hunting, the male lions protect the pride and patrol the territory, always marking their territory and on the lookout for other males.
Sight is the primary sense that African lions use. African lions are very opportunistic and hunt at any time of the night or day,
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| Figure Six - African Lion, the King of the Beasts. |
although they prefer darkness. When the lion pride hunts, the members oftentimes spread out along a
front or in a semi-circle so the prey does not allude them. Lions have a reflective layer at the back of their eye
that amplifies light into the eyeballs, making the lion's eyes shine at night. An African lion’s pupil is oval to round, just like
ours. Smell and hearing are the next most widely used senses for African
lions. African lions obtain most of
their water requirements by eating other animals. They can survive in desert
climates as long as there are animals to eat.
Did the American Lion or Panthera leo atrox live and hunt in prides? We cannot be sure. Just imagine if you were a Paleoindian hunter and you were armed only with a spear. Imagine that you bump into a solitary American Lion or maybe even the pride.
That would be a truly terrifying experience.
You don't have to imagine it. READ Winds of Eden and find out
if you could have survived.
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