Extinct American Lion (Panthera atrox) Fact Sheet: Summary

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Carnivora

Family: Felidae (lion, tiger, jaguar, leopard, cougar, cheetah, lynx, caracal, domestic cat and many fossil taxa)

Genus: Panthera

Species: Panthera atrox - American lion (extinct)

Body Weight*
Large male up to 235 kg (518 lb)
Large female up to 175 kg (386 lb)
*estimated to be 25% larger than modern lions

Body Length
1.6-2.5 m (5.3-8.2 ft)

Tail Length
0.5-0.8 m (1.7-2.7 ft)

Pelage
Coloration and pattern unknown. Thought to have no mane.

Range
During Pleistocene: Alaska to Peru, but was absent in northeastern Canada and U.S. and southern Florida

Habitat
Open habitats, grasslands; probably occupied steppe tundra and mountain conifer/grasslands ecosystems

Status
Went extinct around 13,000 years ago

Locomotion
Slender, but powerful legs for moving through open country

Social Groups
Assumed to be social because of skeletal differences between sexes, but also evidence of solitary hunting or hunting by pairs (not prides).

Diet
Carnivorous. Probably fed on horses and deer, camels, ground sloths, young mammoths, and bison in North America.
Juvenile P. atrox fed on adults' kills.

Predators
No known predators, except for Paleolithic humans

Feature Facts

• No other mammal (except for humans) has had such a wide geographical distribution as the extinct lions in the Panthera lineage
• atrox means "cruel" or "frightful" in Latin
• Competed with other large carnivores of the time, like sabertooth cats and giant bears
• The last North American lions became extinct around 13,000 years ago, along with mammoths and many other large mammals
• Painted by Paleolithic artists