| European Lion | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Felidae |
| Genus: | Panthera |
| Species: | P. leo |
| Subspecies: | P. l. europaea |
| Trinomial name | |
| Panthera leo europaea |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
P. leo tartarica (Serbia) |
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The European lion (Panthera leo europaea or Panthera leo tartarica) could be an extinct subspecies of lion that inhabited southern Europe until historic times. This population is generally considered part of the Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica), but others consider it a separate subspecies, the European lion (Panthera leo europaea). They also could possibly have been the last remnants of the cave lion (Panthera leo spelaea).
Two prehistoric lions lived in Europe, namely the Early Middle Pleistocene European cave lion, Panthera leo fossilis, and the Upper Pleistocene European cave lion, Panthera leo spelaea.[1]
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The European lion in historic times inhabited the Iberian Peninsula, southern France, Italy, Germany and Balkans south to northern Greece.[2] This was the northernmost of the subspecies of lion until its extinction. Its habitat was the Mediterranean and temperate forests of the area, with prey that included the wisent, elk, aurochs, deer, and other European ungulates.
The European Lion was similar in size to the African Lion, standing about 4 feet (1.2 m) at the shoulder. Males ranged in weight between 180kg and 200kg [3], while females were smaller.
Due to their remote extinction, little is known about these subspecies of lion. Lions feature heavily in Ancient Greek mythology and writings including myth of the Nemean Lion which was believed to be a supernatural lion which occupied the sacred town of Nemea in the Peloponnese. Aristotle and Herodotus wrote that lions were found in the Balkans in the middle of the first millennium BCE. When Xerxes advanced through Macedon in 480 BCE he encountered several lions.[4][5] Before 20 BCE they became extinct from Italy and around the year 1 CE from Western Europe also.[6] Around the year 70 CE they were restricted to northern Greece, in the area between the rivers Aliakmon and Nestus. Finally, in the year 100 CE they became extinct in Eastern Europe too.[6] After that lions in the European continent became restricted to the Caucasus, where a population of the Asiatic lion survived until the 10th century.
The European Lion became extinct due to excessive hunting (lion hunting was popular among the Greeks and Romans), over-exploitation, and competition with feral dogs. Along with the Barbary lion and the Asiatic lion the European lion was used in the Roman arenas, where they fought against bestiarii, and animals like the Caspian tiger, the aurochs and bears. Due to geographical distribution they were more accessible to Romans than North African and Middle Eastern lions. As the European lion became increasingly rare, Romans began to import lions from North Africa and the Middle East to fight in the arenas. Further details about their extinction are unknown.