Late Pleistocene Felidae remains (Mammalia, Carnivora) from Geographical Society Cave in the Russian Far East
Fossil remains of felids from Geographical Society Cave and neighboring localities (Tigrovaya Cave, Malaya Pensau Cave, and Letuchiya Mysh Cave) in the Russian Far East are found to belong to four species: Panthera tigris, P. spelaea, P. pardus, and Lynx lynx. In Geographical Society Cave, the felid fossils are confined to deposits of the warm stage of the Late Pleistocene (MIS3). The simultaneous presence of Panthera tigris and P. spelaea seems to be unusual, the tiger remains being numerous whereas those of the cave lion are scant. There are differences between the Late Pleistocene tiger and the recent tiger in dental characters. P. tigris, most probably, migrated twice to Russian Far East from southern regions: in interstadial MIS3 and, subsequently, in the Holocene.