Study Reveals Extinct Lion Species Interbred with Its Modern Cousins
Researchers say the 32,000-year-old cub provides evidence that cave lions exchanged genes with modern lions across Eurasia during climate shifts.
- A new study published in the journal Cell reveals extinct cave lions interbred with modern lions. Researchers analyzed 12 genomes, including one from a 32,000-year-old cub named Sparta, to trace their shared evolutionary history.
- Climatic changes in the Early Pleistocene pushed cave lion populations southward from northern latitudes, repeatedly bringing them into contact with modern lions across Central and Southwest Asia. Environmental flux facilitated genetic exchange between the two species.
- Lead study author David Stanton, a Lecturer at Cardiff University, explained that "the actual amount of cave lion DNA in modern lion genomes is very small; less than 5 percent." This genetic evidence confirms significant interaction occurred despite species' divergence.
- Tragically, the Southwest Asian lion population—which likely carried the most cave lion DNA—was hunted to extinction by humans by the early 20th century. Stanton noted it feels "slightly melancholic" that this group vanished so recently.
- This research analyzed genomes spanning 100,000 years to understand the predator that went extinct around 13,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age. Shifting habitats and human expansion likely drove the cave lion's disappearance.
41 Articles
41 Articles
Genome study shows what made the extinct Ice Age cave lion unique
The cave lion was one of the biggest cats to ever live, prowling a huge swathe of territory from Western Europe across Siberia and into North America and hunting large prey - and perhaps even people - before going extinct around the end of the Ice Age.
Cave Lions and Modern Lions Interbred After More Than a Million Years Apart as Ice Age Climate Shifted Their Ranges
Learn how ancient DNA shows cave lions were a distinct evolutionary lineage from modern lions, yet still interbred with them after more than a million years apart as Ice Age climate brought them into contact.
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Study reveals extinct lion species interbred with its modern cousins
The cave lion had a history of interbreeding with modern lions that was tightly linked to past climatic changes.
The Cave Lion Was Not a Lion: DNA Reveals a Species with Almost Two Million Years of Its Own History
One study analyzes 12 genomes of the ‘Panthera spelaea’ and discovers that its lineage separated from the African lion long before it was thought. Crossings between the two species were controlled by glaciations.
Ancient cave lion genomes reveal a distinct lineage
A new study on multiple genomes from the extinct cave lion has discovered that it represented a highly distinct evolutionary lineage, which separated from modern lions more than a million years ago. The results also show that the cave lion had a history of interbreeding with modern lions that was tightly linked to past climatic changes. These findings are published in the journal Cell in a study led by Swedish and British scientists.
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