Daily Dose of Prehistory: Back from Extinction 62

Panthera leo atrox, otherwise known as the American Lion, is an extinct big cat related to the modern African Lion that lived in North and South America during the Pleistocene, roughly 340000 to 11000 years ago. They were massive animals, around 25% larger than modern lions, weighing anywhere from 350 pounds to a seemingly ludicrous 1153 pounds, making them larger than even the massively built Smilodon fatalis which it coexisted with. Judging from mummified skin and cave paintings from Patagonia, American Lions were reddish in color, different from the yellow that jaguars were depicted with, and had "scruff manes" similar to young male lions. Based on the fossilized remains of ancient bison, they seemed to be the favored prey of the lions though they did hunt mammoths, deer, horses, camels, and many other animals. Their remains are relatively rare in the La Brea Tar Pits compared to Smilodon, suggesting that they were smart enough to avoid the tar pits.