Primitive Cave Lion

With an average head and body length of 2.40 meters, which is about half a meter longer than today's African lions, Panthera (leo) fossilis was as big as the American lion from the Upper Pleistocene.
From Panthera fossilis derived the Upper Pleistocene European cave lion (Panthera spelaea), which is recorded for the first time about 300,000 years ago.

Some scientists believe that lions and leopards are most closely related to each other among the group "Pantherinae", and young individuals of lions often show very pale rosettes on their coats.
In the earliest forms of lions(such as the cave lion), even adults may have weared their own spotted fur coats.