page_title: Panthera pardus spelaea
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Panthera pardus spelaea / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Cave hyena (Crocuta crocuta spelaea) painting found in the Chauvet cave and made public on January 17, 1995, by the Minister of Culture Jacques Toubon (Source: Gutenberg.org)&#160;; now known to be 32,000 year old. Čeština: Asi 32 000 let stará malba hyeny jeskynní (Crocuta crocuta spelaea) a levharta skvrnitého z Chauvetovy jeskyně
context_page_description: Panthera pardus spelaea, sometimes called the European Ice Age leopard or Late Pleistocene Ice Age leopard, is a fossil leopard subspecies, which roamed Europe in the Late Pleistocene. The youngest known bone fragments date to about 32,000 to 26,000 years ago, and are similar in size to modern leopard bones.
context_section_description: The European Ice Age leopard is thought to have resembled a snow leopard or Persian leopard in fur pattern. Its skull was medium-long and its characteristics are closest to modern Persian leopards. The only known depiction of this leopard in the Chauvet Cave shows a coat pattern similar to that of modern leopards. It is unclear if the spots were organised in larger rosettes like in modern Persian leopards. In contrast to modern leopards, the belly of the depicted animal is unspotted white. Fossils of small female leopards can sometimes  be confused with large male lynxes. Leopards from the cold phases (glacials) of the Late Pleistocene are usually larger than those from the warm phases (interglacials). As in modern leopards, there was a strong sexual dimorphism, with males being larger than females.
caption: Depiction of a leopard (bottom right) and hyena, Chauvet Cave
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