The "American Lion" is not a lion

The Pleistocene and the great megafauna extinction has been my fascination for longer than I can remember. Toss the Americas into the mix and I will sit through an all day lecture without a break. Below is yet another theory added to the controversy of where exactly does the "American Lion" belong in the scheme of prehistoric fauna. Was the American Lion a giant jaguar?

Among the great mammalian predators from the Pleistocene Epoch (1.8 million to 10,000 years ago) of North America, an enormous cat stands out. Only the giant bear Arctodus simus (discussed in a previous blog) exceeded it in size. No, I am not talking about the famous saber-toothed cat, Smilodon fatalis.

Renowned American naturalist Joseph Leidy first described a large extinct cat (which he named Felis atrox, "cruel cat") in 1853 based on an incomplete lower jaw with teeth from Mississippi. Since then, bones of this predator have been recovered from Pleistocene deposits across the United States and in Canada.
The best fossils of what now is known as Panthera atrox have been found in the La Brea "tar pits," which today are located in the Miracle Mile district of Los Angeles.

At La Brea, crude oil has slowly been seeping to the surface through deep fissures in the ground for the last 40,000 years or so. The light fraction of this oil evaporates, leaving deposits of thick, sticky asphalt (usually incorrectly referred to as "tar"). Water often collected on and covered the asphalt, luring thirsty animals to their doom. Over countless millennia, many animals and plants have been preserved in these deposits.
Many of the species found as fossils at La Brea still live in the Los Angeles region. However, the big mammals--including saber-toothed cat, dire wolf, mammoths, mastodon, ground sloths, long-horned bison, and camels--vanished about 11,000 years ago.

Some 90 percent of the large mammal fossils collected from La Brea belong to carnivores. Most of the bird remains also belong to forms that are predators and (or) scavengers --eagles, an extinct group of enormous birds known as teratorns, vultures, and condors. Presumably the plight of mired animals attracted predators, which then joined their intended quarry in the deadly embrace of the asphalt. In addition, some carnivores may have inadvertently become trapped while pursuing their prey across the sticky ground.

The relationships of Panthera atrox, often called the American lion, to other big cats have long been contentious.
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