One of the largest ever meat-eating creatures, according to experts, was a gigantic lion with massive fangs that lived more than 20 million years ago in Kenya’s savannah.
Simbakubwa kutokaafrika, a new species discovered by scientists in Tanzania, is Swahili for “large African lion.” This species’ lower jaw, teeth, and other bones were unearthed.
This lion, according to the researchers, weighed up to 1,500 kg and may have hunted the elephant-like beasts that lived there at the time.
According to research co-led by Matthew Borths of Duke University and Ohio University, Simbakubwa was a super-carnivorous cat that was maybe larger than a polar bear and far larger than the present lion.
The creature is shown as a giant big-cat-like hunter with striped fur and enormous jaws in a drawing.
According to the researchers that published the discovery in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, Simbakubwa existed 23 million years ago in modern-day Kenya. According to the researchers, Simbakubwa appeared around this time and was a “key stage” in the evolution of carnivorous animals.
The discovery, according to scientists, might help them better understand how supersized predators and prey evolved over millions of years during the Paleogene period, when mammals expanded from small rodents into a diverse range of species.
