American Lion

The American lion (Panthera atrox) was a species of big cat that lived in savannas and grasslands in North America during the Pleistocene 130,000 to 12,800 years ago. It is a distinct species from the African lion rather than a subspecies. The African lion is indeed the closest living relative to the American lion and the Eurasian cave lion. There were preserved skin remains with skeletal material in Patagonia that were reddish in color. While these were from an pantherine cat, the remains aren’t accepted to be from Panthera atrox by many authors.