![]() Leidy found that the fossil, a lower jawbone, belonged to a never-before-discovered species. The first fossil of the American lion was found in Natchez, Mississippi, in 1836, but paleontologist Joseph Leidy didn’t identify it until nearly 20 years later. George Phillips/Mississippi Museum of Natural Science It was identified nearly 20 years later by paleontologist Joseph Leidy. The first fossil of the American lion was a lower jawbone, found in Natchez, Mississippi, in 1836. “The fossils really make you contemplate deep time, and I think that, for me, that is really part of the magic of it.” So here, you are always looking at new sites,” Prewitt said. ![]() When the river comes up, the high water exposes different things and covers up other things. “The interesting thing about the river is that every year is different. Prewitt plans to donate the fossil he found to the museum in Jackson, which would make it the fourth addition to the institution’s collection of American lion bones, counting the addition of the newly found femur. ![]() Two American lion bone discoveries within a week or so is unbelievable, he said, calling it “just an incredibly rare fossil.” One week after that surprising discovery, a local wildlife officer pulled a large American lion femur from the river’s sediment, resulting in another fossil from the same scarce species being added to the museum’s collection, Phillips told CNN.Ĭarnivore fossils are much harder to find in comparison with their prey counterparts, according to Phillips. It is pictured next to other femurs of predators commonly found today. A femur from the species is the newest addition to the MMNS collection. The American lion stood 4 feet tall at the shoulders and measured 5 to 8 feet in length. After observing other fossils from the same species at the event, Phillips said it was easy to narrow down the other carnivore possibilities and confirm that he was looking at another fossil from the lion. While the fossil was not a complete jawbone, plenty was left to identify the specimen easily, Phillips said: It had a significant gap between the canine and the premolars that could only belong to the American lion. “Who would have thought in a million years that another lion fossil would show up, considering that they’re rare, at an event (in) which the theme was the American lion?” “When (Prewitt) whipped out that anterior portion of a lion jaw, I knew right away what it was,” said George Phillips, curator of paleontology at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, who was at the event. Prewitt took the fossil in the hope of having experts identify it, but he didn’t know how significant his find would be to understanding a little more about Mississippi’s past. Three days after Prewitt’s find, the Mississippi Fossil and Artifact Symposium & Exhibition hosted an event featuring previously discovered American lion fossils. American lions weighed between 500 to 800 pounds on average, although some of the biggest may have topped 1,000 pounds, the park service notes. Known by its scientific name, Panthera atrox, meaning “fearsome panther” in Latin, the species was 25% larger than a present-day African lion, standing at 4 feet tall at the shoulders and measuring 5 to 8 feet in length. The American lion was the largest extinct cat to live in North America during the last ice age, according to the National Park Service. The tooth, pictured, has a fragment of the jawbone still attached. A rare American lion fossil has been discovered near the Mississippi River.
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