Anchorage Daily News

That was no ordinary pussycat stalking the frozen bogs and meadows of Interior Alaska.

Stretching 10 feet long, weighing 600 pounds, with 5-inch fangs and claws to match, the American lion possessed more muscle, brains and speed than its African cousins.

Few Alaskans have heard of Panthera leo atrox ("horrible lion"), a contemporary of the mammoth and saber-toothed tiger. But the massive, maneless meat-eater once chased down ice age bison, moose, musk ox -- and maybe people -- roared, stretched and napped near our present-day schoolyards, bike paths and berry patches.

We know this because, from time to time, parts emerge from the sediment. One big Alaska lion skull, plucked from the muck by an unknown gold miner, will go on sale in Los Angeles at an auction Dec. 7 and 8.

American lion fossils are rare finds, especially in Alaska, said Patrick Druckenmiller, curator of earth sciences at the University of Alaska Museum of the North in Fairbanks.

"Most of what we know about American lions comes from the Lower 48," he said. A lot of knowledge about the critters comes from one place and one relatively brief period of time, namely the remains of some 90 individuals extracted from the Rancho La Brea tar pits in California.

Alaska lion parts are few and tend to be fragments. Druckenmiller could think of only four more-or-less complete skulls.

Because they are so scarce, he said, whole scientific papers have been dedicated to descriptions of a partial skull or lower jaw. Along with short-face bears and scimitar-tooth cats, they were the big carnivores in the late ice age. Because of their position at the top of the food chain, each specimen has the potential to cast a lot of light on the entire ecosystem of its time.

Panthera leo atrox disappeared around 10,000 years ago. "But radiocarbon dating of a new specimen could potentially refine this estimate," Druckenmiller said.

Tom Lindgren, the fossil specialist for Bonhams & Butterfields, the international firm conducting the auction, said the skull came from a St. Louis collection with minimal information about where it was found.

The location is something Druckenmiller would like to know.

Lion fragments have been discovered from Fairbanks to the North Slope, from the Yukon border to Shishmaref on the Bering Sea. The beasts ranged into South America and could have lived "potentially almost anywhere in the state, any of the ice-free areas in the last ice age -- which was a lot of Alaska," he said.

The skull going to auction is considered complete and in excellent condition, according to a press release. It measures 17 inches long and "all teeth are original."

Bonhams & Butterfields expects the skull to fetch $35,000 to $45,000. Dinosaur fossils, two saber-toothed tigers (one skull, one full skeleton), a mammoth tusk and various geological wonders -- gold, pearls, meteorites, etc. -- will also be on the block.

Find Mike Dunham online at adn.com/contact/mdunham or call 257-4332.

Alaska lion killed ancient bison

Near Fairbanks, 36,000 years ago, a giant feline killing machine pounced on a hapless steppe bison. After a meal or two, the prey became buried, and eventually mummified, in mineral-laden sediments. Its body was recovered from the permafrost in 1979, as fresh as frozen encasement could keep it.

Today the mounted hide of "Blue Babe" is a star attraction at the University of Alaska Museum of the North.

Who done it?

An analysis by University of Alaska Fairbanks emeritus professor Dale Guthrie has concluded that Blue Babe was brought down by an American lion. The predator's tooth and claw marks are evident on the animal's back and haunches.

Babe is displayed so that visitors see its fairly undamaged right side and head. But the side turned away from general view indicates that "a couple of belly-fulls" were probably devoured before the carcass was buried or frozen, said the museum's Curator of Earth Sciences, Patrick Druckenmiller.

Steppe bison are now extinct. So is the American lion, although some authorities feel it may be the same species as the African lion.

-- Mike Dunham

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