TOKYO, Feb 15 — Lions lived in a wide area of the Japanese archipelago tens of thousands of years ago, as analysis of fossil specimens that were believed be of tigers were revealed to belong to an extinct lion species, a team of researchers said, Kyodo News Agency reported.

According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in late January, the researchers extracted and analysed DNA and proteins from fossil specimens previously thought to be from tigers and identified them as belonging to the extinct cave lion.

The study was conducted to explore the possibility of lions being present in Japan, located on the easternmost edge of a lion-tiger transition belt stretching from the Middle East to the Russian Far East. Cave lions inhabited northern Eurasia, while tigers existed farther south.

The team collected preserved organic matter from 26 subfossil specimens found across Japan. After comparing the mitochondrial and nuclear DNA fragments and proteins recovered from five of the specimens with international data, the team identified them all as belonging to the cave lion.

“Our findings challenge the long-held view that tigers once took refuge in Japan, showing instead that cave lions were widespread in northeast Asia during this period,” said the researchers from institutions including the Graduate University for Advanced Studies and Peking University.

Lions left Africa some 1 million years ago and spread across the Eurasian continent.

They entered the Japanese archipelago around 73,000 to 38,000 years ago, when sea levels dropped during glacial periods and Japan’s northern region was connected to the continent.

Lions likely spread to western Japan, as evidenced by a specimen collected in Yamaguchi Prefecture.

Humans arrived in the archipelago around 40,000 to 35,000 years ago, but cave lions are believed to have gone extinct roughly 10,000 years ago.

“The findings are significant in terms of studying interaction between lions and tigers and their influence on ecosystems,” said Takumi Tsutaya, an assistant professor at the Graduate University for Advanced Studies.

In Japan, fossils of large feline relatives have been found everywhere from the northeastern Aomori Prefecture to the southwestern Oita Prefecture.

For a long time, they were believed to be tiger fossils because the country’s warm and humid climate was thought to be ideal for tigers. — Bernama-Kyodo