Curiosity Killed the Cat Trivia Quiz

Answer: Smilodon

In the 1830s, a Danish naturalist and his team identified a previously-unknown species in fossils they were excavating in Brazil. He decided that they were felids, and gave them the generic name Smilodon, from the Greek 'smilē' (meaning scalpel) and 'odontús' (meaning tooth) because of their dramatically large canine teeth.

He called his cat Smilodon populator, a species name meaning destroyer, due to its apparent predatory ability. In the 1930s, many more Smilodon fossils were discovered in North America, especially in the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles. Most of those specimens were a species designated S. fatalis; a very incomplete specimen from Pennsylvania has been named as S. gracilis. Given the incomplete nature of the fossil record, it is not actually clear whether these three are completely different species, or whether some (or all) of them are subspecies.

They are all definitely extinct.

Answer: Cheetah

The genus Panthera includes felids whose anatomy allows them to produce a loud roar, unlike other felids whose vocalisations are more subdued. Contemporary members of this genus include the three incorrect responses as well as the jaguar and the snow leopard (recently reclassified from Uncia uncia to Panthera uncia). The cheetah (acinonyx jubatus) is the only extant species of its genus.

As its name implies, the European cave lion is thought to have developed in Europe, diverging from the African branch at least half a million years ago (although some place it as nearly two million years ago). Going by the fossil evidence, they became extinct around 13,000 years ago. Fossils have been found establishing their presence from the Iberian peninsula across all of Europe except the Scandinavian peninsula and the far north of Finland and Russia, stretching east across northern Asia and into North America. The oldest known fossils have been found in Yakutia, Russia, and the most recent ones near Fairbanks, Alaska. There are many cave paintings depicting cave lions, which almost always show them without a mane (even those that are clearly male).

Answer: Cougar

In 1846, Richard Owen identified a specimen of Felis pardoides and gave it his name, a common procedure. It was subsequently decided that the fossils of this species seemed to be ancestral to leopards, and they were allocated the name Panthera pardoides. Since leopards and pumas are very similar, it was difficult to decide exactly where this animal fitted into the big picture, until some teeth were discovered early in the 21st century which made it clear they were more closely related to the puma family than the panther family.

Hence the reclassification to Puma pardoides, also known as the European puma. At this time, a number of other fossil specimens previously considered to be from different species were all reclassified as Puma pardoides, so that Panthera schaubi and Viretailurus schaubi are also no longer recognised as belonging to an independent species.

Answer: False

Felids are frequently being re-taxonomized on the basis of DNA analysis (replacing the previous use of observable features as the basis for classification), and the American lion was until recently classified as Panthera atrox, which would make it a more distant relative of the African lion, Panthera leo.

It is now classified as Panthera leo atrox, and considered a subspecies of the African lion, which is thought to have originated in northern Africa. Extant subspecies include Panthera leo leo (called the northern lion as it is located in northern Africa), and Panthera leo melanochaitus (found in southern and eastern Africa).

The Eurasian cave lion (Panthera spelaea) diverged from its African ancestors, and spread across Europe to Alaska. There the American cave lion diverged, before extending its range to the south. Remains of P. l. atrox have been found as far south as Mexico.

Answer: Elongated canine teeth were serrated, not smooth

As all of these animals are known from, and classified on the basis of, fossil remains, descriptions of their appearance are somewhat speculative. But all members of the extinct grouping known as machairodonts (a name meaning dagger-toothed) can be divided up according to the shape of their elongated teeth.

The Smilodontini have dramatically long and curved canines, which have smooth, sharp edges; the Hometherini have shorter canines, with serrated edges. They are still long enough to have protruded from the mouth, but much less dramatically. Members of the genus lived on every continent, but it is not clear exactly how they were related in terms of species.

The image for the question was of Homotherium serum, a species found in North America, where it co-existed with Smilodon in the southern part of its range. One of the world's most significant sites for Homotherium fossils is Friesenhahn cave in Texas, the source of several dozen different specimens.

Answer: False

There were at least two distinct species (M. inexpectatus and M. trumani), and the differences between these have been the cause of some difficulty in deciding where the genus fits into the evolutionary scheme. M. inexpectatus is currently considered to be older and more primitive than M. trumani, and this relationship is used to argue that the development was from an animal that resembled a cougar into one more similar to a cheetah. (Of course, some archaeologists argue for the reverse pattern of development.) The common name for members of both species is American cheetah.

M. inexpectatus was more similar to the cougar than was M. trumani, its proportions being between that of the cougar and M. trumani. It had fully retractable claws, and with its lighter build, M. inexpectatus was probably faster than the cougar. Due to its retractable claws, it possibly was more adept at climbing than M. trumani.

Answer: Cape of Good Hope

This is one of those slippery victims of reclassification. Until 2017 the Cape lion (then classified as a unique subspecies) was considered to be extinct, with the last one having been sighted around 1860. Now, genetic analysis has shown it to be co-specific with other living, albeit endangered, lions to be found in the southern and eastern parts of Africa.

The Cape lion was first identified as a distinct subspecies of lion because of its distinctive long black mane (extending down its shoulders) and black-tipped ears, and its geographical separation from other lions. Now it is known that the color and length of the mane vary with seasons, and the lighter-maned animals found further north are genetically members of the same subspecies.

Answer: Morocco

The Barbary Coast is a region of northern Africa that spreads across Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. The 2017 reclassification of many African lions based on extensive morphological (based on external features) and genetic analysis of widespread populations meant that a number of animals that had been considered separate subspecies were determined to actually be co-specific with others. Before this, it was generally considered that a distinct mane was a sufficient marker for a subspecies, but genetic analysis has shown that not to be a reliable basis for classification. Before it was hunted to extinction in the middle of the 20th century, the Barbary lion had a longer and thicker mane than found in more southerly relatives.

This may well have been due to its location, primarily in the Atlas mountain range, rather than on the savannah.

Answer: Caspian tiger

There are two more isolated groups of the subspecies (Malayan tiger and Indonesian tiger), which were formerly considered separate species. As its name suggests, the Caspian tiger was found near the Caspian Sea and other areas extending from eastern Turkey and norther Iran through central Asia to northern Afghanistan and western China.

It was declared extinct in 2003. As of 2020, none of the other groups is extinct, although most of them are endangered, at least to some degree. There has been discussion of breeding from the Siberian tiger to reintroduce tigers into the area previously occupied by the Caspian tiger.

The major problem is the lack of a suitable environment to sustain a population, which is pretty much why they became extinct there in the first place!

Answer: Bali tiger

The tigers found on the Sunda Islands are smaller than their mainland relatives, and are currently considered to be members of a single subspecies, named after the islands where they are/were found. The tigers that used to live on the island of Java have had several name changes over the years.

In 1844 Coenrad Jacob Temminck classified them as Felis tigris sondaicus. In 1929, Reginald Innes Pocock was responsible for reclassifying all tigers as belonging to the genus Panthera rather than Felis, and the 2017 revision made all of the tigers found in Indonesia as P. t. sondaica.

The Javan tiger and the Bali tiger are extinct, while the Sumatran tiger is critically endangered in 2020.