Cavemen really DID wear leotards made from the skin of fierce lions – and hunted them to extinction in Europe
The Eurasian cave lion, ten per cent bigger than modern lions in Africa, roamed across northern European including the UK but vanished 12,500 years ago
PREHISTORIC humans hunted lions for their pelts and may have driven them to extinction in Europe, scientists believe.
The Eurasian cave lion, which was up ten per cent bigger than modern lions in Africa, once roamed across northern European including the UK, but vanished around 12,500 years ago.
Scientists are still not certain why the fierce big cat - which probably hunted reindeer, horses and even young woolly mammoths - became extinct.
While humans from this time period are known to have pursued other carnivores, evidence of lion hunting is sparse.
Now a study of fossilised toe bones from La Garma cave in northern Spain has indicated they were once part of a single cave lion pelt that may have been laid on the floor.
Most of the bones - dating from 13,800 years ago - showed signs of cut and scraping marks left by stone tools.
A specialised technique appears to have been used similar to that employed by modern hunters when skinning to keep an animal's claws attached to its fur.
La Garma is known to have been associated with human rituals, and cave lions may have had symbolic significance for those occupying the cave.
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Marian Cueto, from the University of Cantabria in Spain, and her team describe the finds in the journal .
The researchers conclude: "This site is one of the few that provides Pleistocene examples of lion exploitation by humans.
"Our archaeo-zoological study suggests that lion-specialised pelt exploitation and use might have been related to ritual activities.
"Moreover, the specimens also represent the southern-most European and the latest evidence of cave lion exploitation in Iberia.
"Therefore, the study seeks to provide alternative explanations for lion extinction in Eurasia and argues for a role of hunting as a factor to take into account."
In October 2015, two frozen cave lion cubs estimated to be at least 10,000 years old were discovered in permafrost in Yakutia, Siberia.
The big cats, which are closely related to modern lions, roamed across Europe, Siberia and Alaska, which was once joined to Asia by a land bridge.
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