Cave lions are three extinct subspecies of large carnivorous land mammals in the species Panthera leo, (the lions), in the genus Panthera and a member of the family Felidae.
The subspecies known by this name include:
- Panthera leo spelaea or P. spelaea, the Eurasian or European cave lion
- Panthera leo fossilis or P. spelaea fossilis or P. fossilis, the Early Middle Pleistocene European cave lion
- Panthera leo atrox or P. atrox, the American lion or American cave lion
Famous quotes containing the words cave and/or lion:
“Do you know how poetry started? I always think that it started when a cave boy came running back to the cave, through the tall grass, shouting as he ran, “Wolf, wolf,” and there was no wolf. His baboon-like parents, great sticklers for the truth, gave him a hiding, no doubt, but poetry had been born—the tall story had been born in the tall grass.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.”
—Bible: Hebrew Isaiah 11:6.