Research overview: isotopic evidence for cave lion diet

This overview surveys stable isotope studies of cave lion diet, which use carbon and nitrogen values in bone collagen to identify the prey of Panthera spelaea across Ice Age Eurasia and Beringia. Several analyses indicate that cave lions specialized on particular prey, with evidence in some regions pointing to a strong reliance on reindeer and young animals, and in others to the predation of cave bear cubs in hibernation dens. The survey reviews how isotopic niche reconstructions compare the cave lion with contemporaries such as wolves, hyenas, and cave bears, what dietary specialization implies about competition and habitat, and how diet may have influenced the cave lion's vulnerability as prey communities shifted near the end of the Pleistocene. It highlights geochemistry as a key tool for reconstructing extinct predator ecology.