Everything about The European Lion totally explained
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 spelea).
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.
Distribution
The European lion in historic times inhabited the
Iberian Peninsula, southern
France,
Italy and
Balkans south to northern
Greece.
(In russian)
This was the northermost 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.
Extinction
Due to their remote extinction, little is known about these subspecies of lion.
Aristotle and
Herodotus wrote that lions were found in the Balkans in the middle of the first millennium BC. When
Xerxes advanced through
Macedon in 480 BC he encountered several lions.Before 20 BC they became extinct from
Italy and around the year
1 AD from
Western Europe also.
(External Link) Around the year
70 they were restricted to northern Greece, in the area between the rivers
Aliakmon and
Nestus. Finally, in the year
100 they became extinct in
Eastern Europe too.
(External Link) 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 Macedonians, 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. When the European lion was walking toward extinction, Romans began to import lions from
North Africa and the
Middle East to fight in the arenas. Further details about their extinction are unknown.
Further Information
Get more info on 'European Lion'.
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