The Crocuta crocuta spelaea (Goldfuss 1823) population and its prey from the Late Pleistocene Teufelskammer Cave hyena den besides the famous Paleolithic Neandertal Cave (NRW,NW Germany)

Remains from at least seven individuals of the Late Pleistocene Ice Age spotted hyena Crocuta crocuta spelaea (Goldfuss, 1823) from the Teufelskammer Cave in the Neandertal valley (North Rhine-Westphalia, northwest Germany) are described. The small cave was a well-frequented hyena den of the Early to Middle Late Pleistocene which was only 100 m from the famous small Feldhofer Cave, where the first Neandertal human skeleton was found. The high amount of hyena bone material (37%) and its strongly chewed and incomplete prey remains of the mixed mammoth steppe and boreal forest megafauna prove one more of 11 recently known hyena den caves in the Rhenish Massif. Hyenas and cave bears have used the cave, but Neandertal humans lived possibly not at the same time in the same valley. Although hyenas occupied mainly the smaller caves such as the Teufelskammer Cave, humans preferred large portal cave entrances such as in the Neandertal valley with the Small Feldhofer Cave.     

An Ice Age spotted hyena Crocuta crocuta spelaea (Goldfuss 1823) population,their excrements and prey from the Late Pleistocene hyena den of the Sloup Cave in the Moravian Karst,Czech Republic

A Late Pleistocene spotted hyena Crocuta crocuta spelaea (Goldfuss 1823) population from the cave bear den Sloup Cave, Moravia (Czech Republic) consists of mainly adult/senior and few cub/juvenile remains and coprolites, and 139 prey bones. Hyenas used the Nicová Cave branch that is connected to the entrance area mainly as a communal den site. Prey bone damage is most visible on the imported woolly rhinoceros remains. The partly excavated prey bone accumulation consists of a single woolly mammoth Mammuthus primigenius (Blumenbach 1799) tooth (2%), mainly Coelodonta antiquitatis (Blumenbach 1807) remains (16%), 4% Bos primigenius (Bojanus 1827) and 1% each of Megaloceros giganteus (Blumenbach 1799) and Rangifer tarandus (Linnaeus 1758). The other carnivores such as Panthera leo spelaea (Goldfuss 1810), Gulo gulo (Linnaeus 1758) and Canis lupus (Linnaeus 1758) subsp. are less represented (1–3%). Wolverines might have been imported also as prey remains, whereas wolves also possibly used this cave on a short-term basis, whereas steppe lions seem to have preyed upon cave bears deeper in the cave periodically, where even skeletons of P. leo spelaea were found in the Elisabeth Cave part.     

The holotypes of the upper Pleistocene Crocuta crocuta spelaea (Goldfuss, 1823: Hyaenidae) and Panthera leo spelaea (Goldfuss, 1810: Felidae) of the Zoolithen Cave hyena den (South Germany) and their palaeo‐ecological interpretation

The rediscovered holotype skulls of Late Pleistocene Panthera leo spelaea ( Goldfuss, 1810 ) (Felidae) and Crocuta crocuta spelaea ( Goldfuss, 1823 ) (Hyaenidae) from the Zoolithen Cave at Burggeilenreuth, southern Germany, are discussed. The cave became famous mainly due to its rich cave bear bone remains from the late Saalian (OIS 6–8) to Eemian/Weichselian (OIS 3–6) including additionally a third holotype of Ursus spelaeus Rosenmüller, 1794 (Ursidae). The ‘Felis spelaea’ holotype represents an adult male with a strong bite mark on the saggital crest, which was in an early stage of healing. Compared with other European Late Pleistocene lion skulls and skeletons, and with modern African lions, it provides evidence of intraspecific conflict between male Ice Age lions. The holotype of ‘Hyaena spelaea’ is one of several hundred hyena remains from a well‐frequented hyena den cave. The cave was used intensively by Late Pleistocene hyena clans, for collecting lion carcasses in addition to their accustomed prey, as happened in many caves throughout Europe. Ice Age spotted hyena clans might have killed Ice Age steppe lions for many reasons, such as fights over prey and territory, and the protection of cubs, but they did not always scavenge on their carcasses. © 2008 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2008, 154 , 822–831.