Post by brobear on Feb 24, 2023 5:02:48 GMT -5
Cave bear and Cave lion intereactions.
"Since rare in Polish sites, this state of affairs and the predominance of can be partially explained by their specialisation in hunting on cave bears during the times when the other more typical food sources like ungulates were scarce. Spelaeoid bears U. spelaeus sensu lato were atypical prey for the Pleistocene lion, but when food was scarce, lions entered deeply into caves and hunted them (Argant, 1988, 1991, 2000; Diedrich, 2012). It was risky business facing this powerful animal in total darkness, and many lions were killed during such incidents, but not eaten by herbivorous bears. Another explanation of the predominance of males is that larger and stronger male lions more often tend to hunt very large preys and went into the conflicts with other carnivores than females which resulted in higher injuries and mortality (Turner and Ant´on, 1997)."
"Polish lions in particular, also had extremely powerful forelimbs. It might had given a great advantage when hunting a cave bear in narrow and dark cave corridors. Speleoid bears were atypical prey for the Pleistocene lion, but when the food was scarce, lions entered deeply into caves and hunted bears (Argant, 1988, 1991, 2000; Diedrich, 2013a-b, 2012, 2014, 2017; Marciszak et al., 2014, 2019a, b, 2020). It was risky business facing this powerful animal in total darkness, but their strong forelimbs might have helped subdue prey due to a lethal bite. During such fights, lions also lost their battles, especially with large bears, but their carcasses were mostly not scavenged by herbivorous cave bear and left inside the caves. This behaviour might be interpreted as the main reason for the accumulation of lion bones, which was not typical cave dweller as well (Diedrich, 2011a; b, 2012, 2014, 2017)."
"Evidences of such activity were found on the numerous bear bones belonged mostly to cubs and young specimens, less than one-year-old. But also many bones of adult animals hold bite marks, chewing and scratches, clear proof of predators’ activity. One of the most spectacular examples is a neurocranium of the young female of Ursus ingressus, which holds a few holes, with two main on the frontal and right parietal bones (Nowakowski and Stefaniak, 2015). The blurred edges of the external lamellae and sclerotic lines confirmed that the cave bear female had survived the blows, however because of illness caused by them it died in the next few months. They were interpreted as remains of a powerful bite from the canines of another carnivore (Nowakowski and Stefaniak, 2015). Possible explanation is an attack of P. s. spelaea, since the hunting specialisation by this species on bears is well known due to nitrogen isotope signs (Bocherens et al., 2011a, b; Bocherens, 2015). The skull was found in the trench K III in Lion’s Hall of Nied´zwiedzia Cave, where also a skull of P. s. spelaea of considerable size (43 cm) was found (Wiszniowska, 1978; Barycka, 2008; Marciszak et al., 2014). The distance between two main holes (ca. 85 mm) fits well with the canines spacing in the lion specimen. Additionally, the cranium has scraches, sharp-edged longitudinal scars indicating the use of sharp-edged tool which was interpreted as an effect of skinning and possible indirect proof of the human’s existence (Nowakowski and Stefaniak, 2015). However, in our opinion, another explanation is possible. Recently, when the Siberian tiger Panthera tigris tigris (Linnaeus, 1758) hunts on brown bear, it jumps on a bear from above, and tried to hold and overpowered its head in frontal paws, and simultaneously biting through its cervical vertebrae (Ognev, 1935; Maz´ak, 1979; 1981; Kirillova and Tesakov, 2008; Kirillova et al., 2009). During such fights, tiger claws usually left sharp-edged longitudinal scars on bear’s head, the same as observed on the skull of the cave bear female from the Nied´zwiedzia Cave. There will be no doubt that it will be correct to extrapolate such a hunting behaviour on P. s. spelaea (Kirillova et al., 2009; Diedrich, 2017)."
"Pleistocene are hardly to reconstruct, in view of scarce direct evidences. As was discussed above, the Pleistocene lion attacked and killed cave bears, and smaller brown bears also falled victim of lion attacks."
"Largest males of the Polish specimens of P. s. spelaea reached up to 400 kg, which is double of the weight of the average Siberian tiger. However, U. a. priscus was truly gigantic bear with an average weight of adult males ca. 600–800 kg, and it can reach even up to 1500 kg in the largest individuals (Musil, 2018; Marciszak et al., 2019c). Such immense individuals are known among other from Nied´zwiedzia Cave, where they co-occurred with the cave lion. In direct confrontation with the horse-size bear, even the largest cat, hyena clan or wolf pack was without any chance and usually left their rightfull kill for the competitor (Bocherens et al., 2011a, b, 2015; Bocherens, 2015)".
Two scenes illustrating the complexity of relationships between Panthera spelaea spelaea and different bears in Nied´zwiedzia cave. At the top hunting scene where lion using powerful forelimbs subdue cave bear Ursus ingressus before delivering the lethal bite. Below lion loses battle for carcass with immense steppe brown bear Ursus arctos priscus. Drawn by W. Gornig.
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www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/347492257_The_Pleistocene_lion_Panthera_spelaea_Goldfuss_1810_from_Poland_-_A_review&ved=2ahUKEwje7qyEgKT9AhUBUKQEHTwXDiUQFnoECA0QAQ&authuser=1&usg=AOvVaw01RGkJJVg9ZariI5laYbO1