GREAT MAMMALS OF THE ICE AGE
Cave lion
Panthera spelaea
The cave lion was a close relative of today’s African lion (Panthera leo). Judging by cave paintings, however, the males appear to have had no mane. Despite its name, the cave lion did not live in caves. It was drawn into them by the prospect of relatively easy prey in the form of hibernating cave bears. Cave lions probably hunted alone or in pairs, taking prey such as steppe bison (Bison priscus), aurochs (Bos primigenius) and deer of the genera Megaloceros and Cervus.
Cave lions were adapted to a cold climate and probably had a thick coat with dense underfur to protect them from the cold. Neanderthals and modern humans hunted them for their skins and for their bones, which were made into tools. Cave lion canine teeth were made into ornaments such as necklaces and pendants.
The cave lion was an animal of open country. It died out at the end of the Pleistocene, probably because climate change caused the mammoth steppe to be replaced by forest and scrub. The youngest known remains of the species are dated to around 13,000 years ago.
Giant deer
Megaloceros giganteus
The giant deer is also known as the ‘Irish elk’, even though its closest living relatives are the fallow deer (genus Dama). It stood up to about 2 metres at the shoulder, and its spectacular antlers could span more than 4 metres and weigh as much as 40–45 kilograms.
Paintings in the French caves of Chauvet and Cougnac, dated to around 36,000 and 25,000–23,000 years ago respectively, depict giant deer with remarkable accuracy, faithfully rendering their outline, antlers and coat markings.
The giant deer ranged across much of Europe and southern Siberia, reaching as far east as the area around Lake Baikal. Particularly large numbers of its remains have been found in Ireland, including impressive examples of its enormous antlers. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, giant deer antlers found their way into private collections, museums and aristocratic houses. The animal also appeared on the historical coat-of-arms of Northern Ireland, granted in 1924.
As an animal of open country, the giant deer saw its range shrink considerably at the start of the Holocene, when dense forest rapidly spread. The youngest known remains of the species are dated to around 7,700–7,600 years ago and come from the Ural region of western Russia.