Eurasian puma (puma parodies)

Eurasian puma (puma parodies)

Eurasia Puma pardoides, sometimes called the Eurasian puma or Owen's panther is an extinct prehistoric cat. Fossils of this leopard-sized animal are around 2 million years old and were found in France. Estimates show a length of 1.5 m and a height of around 90 сm. It could weigh anywhere between 50-130 kg (unofficial studies based on incomplete fossils).

Puma parodies were originally described in 1846 as Felis pardoides. Later a complete skull was described in 1954 as Panthera schaubi. In 2001, however, it was pointed out that the various puma-like fossils in Eurasia could all be attributed to a single species, Puma pardoides. Long regarded as a primitive species of leopard (genus Panthera), recent work, however, has shown that they are probably not pantherine at all.

skull of Eurasian puma

Now they are considered a member of Felinae related to the cougar, making them more properly classified as Puma pardoides. There was a complication in their classification due to the similarities between leopards and pumas. This was soon resolved as researchers found a similarity in the teeth to those of pumas. These teeth were found at the “Upper Pliocene Transcaucasian site of Kvabebi".

The exact date of extinction is not known but is estimated somewhere at the end of Pleistocene epoch. Climate change and competition with other predators would have pushed them to extinction.