The Japanese Archipelago sheltered cave lions, not tigers, during the Late Pleistocene
Abstract
Lions and tigers, as dominant apex predators, likely became competitors when lions expanded from Africa into Eurasia approximately one million years ago (Ma), forming a lion–tiger transition belt from the Middle East through Central Asia to the Russian Far East. At the easternmost edge of this zone, the Japanese Archipelago has long been considered a Late Pleistocene tiger refugium, supported by large felid subfossils traditionally attributed to tigers ( Panthera tigris ), though their taxonomic identity remained unresolved. To clarify the origin, evolutionary history, and biogeography of Japan’s Pleistocene felids, we analyzed 26 ancient specimens previously assumed to be tigers. Using mitochondrial and nuclear genome hybridization capture and sequencing, paleoproteomics, Bayesian molecular dating, and radiocarbon dating, we found that all ancient Japanese “tiger” remains yielding molecular data were, unexpectedly, cave lions ( Panthera spelaea ). One specimen from Yamaguchi Prefecture, western Japan, was radiocarbon dated to 36,000-34,891 cal. BP. These cave lions likely dispersed to the Japanese Archipelago between ~72.7 and 37.5 thousand years ago (ka), when a land bridge connected northern Japan to the mainland during the Last Glacial Period. Our findings challenge the long-held view that tigers once took refuge in Japan, showing instead that cave lions were widespread in northeast Asia during this period and were the Panthera lineage that colonized Japan, reaching even its southwestern regions despite habitats previously thought to favor tigers.
Article Details
Journal Info
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
National Academy of Sciences
Authors (19)
Xin Sun
Lanhui Peng
The State Key Laboratory of Gene Function and Modulation Research, School of Life Sciences, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Institute of Ecology, Peking University
Takumi Tsutaya
Center for GeoGenetics, The Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen
Qigao Jiangzuo
Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yoshikazu Hasegawa
Iida City Museum
Yuxin Hou
The State Key Laboratory of Gene Function and Modulation Research, School of Life Sciences, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Institute of Ecology, Peking University
Yu Han
Yan Zhuang
The State Key Laboratory of Gene Function and Modulation Research, School of Life Sciences, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Institute of Ecology, Peking University
Nuno Filipe Gomes Martins
Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics, The Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen
Jazmin Ramos Madrigal
Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics, The Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen
Alberto J. Taurozzi
Center for GeoGenetics, The Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen
Meaghan Mackie
Gaudry Trochė
Center for GeoGenetics, The Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen
Jesper V. Olsen
Enrico Cappellini
Stephen J. O’Brien
Guy Harvey Oceanographic Center, Halmos College of Arts and Sciences, Nova Southeastern University
M. Thomas P. Gilbert
Nobuyuki Yamaguchi
Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Biology, University of Oxford
Shu-Jin Luo
The State Key Laboratory of Gene Function and Modulation Research, School of Life Sciences, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Institute of Ecology, Peking University