Editing Homotherium (section)

== Relationship with humans ==
''Homotherium'' has a long history of co-occurrence with [[archaic humans]] across Afro-Eurasia, ranging from ''[[Australopithecus]]'' in the Pliocene of Africa, to [[Peking Man]] in Zhoukoudian cave in the Early-Middle Pleistocene of China and ''[[Homo heidelbergensis]]'' in the Middle Pleistocene of Europe. The seeming extinction of ''Homotherium latidens'' in Europe during the Middle Pleistocene may have been the result of competition with ''Homo heidelbergensis'' (in combination with the lion ''[[Panthera fossilis]]'').<ref name="anton etal 2005" />
[[File:Isturitz big cat.jpg|thumb|Image of a now lost [[Upper Paleolithic]] figurine found in [[Isturitz and Oxocelhaya caves|Isturitz cave]], France, which has been controversially argued by some to depict ''Homotherium'', though others suggest it represents a cave lion (''[[Panthera spelaea]]'')]]
Isotopic analysis of the canine teeth of ''H. latidens'' found in [[Kent's Cavern]] indicated that they were isotopically distinct from other animal remains found in the cave. This, along with the absence of any other non-tooth remains of ''Homotherium'' in the cave, has led authors to suggest that the teeth (including canines as well as incisors) were deliberately transported into the cave by humans during the Palaeolithic from further afield (possibly from mainland Europe), perhaps as a kind of trade good. The teeth are suggested to have experienced considerable weathering prior to being taken into Kent's Cavern,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=McFarlane |first1=Donald A. |last2=Lundberg |first2=Joyce |date=April 2013 |title=On the occurrence of the scimitar-toothed cat, Homotherium latidens (Carnivora; Felidae), at Kents Cavern, England |journal=[[Journal of Archaeological Science]] |volume=40 |issue=4 |pages=1629–1635 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2012.10.032|bibcode=2013JArSc..40.1629M }}</ref> and it is unclear whether these teeth were taken from the remains of then-relatively recently dead ''Homotherium'' or subfossil remains of long-dead ''Homotherium'' individuals.<ref name="barnett 2014" /> Human transport may also explain the presence of a ''Homotherium'' canine found in Late Pleistocene layers of Robin Hood's cave in the [[Creswell Crags]] of [[Derbyshire]], central England.<ref name="barnett 2014" /><ref name="antón etal 2014" />

A now-lost [[Upper Palaeolithic]] figurine found in [[Isturitz and Oxocelhaya caves|Isturitz cave]] in southwest France has been suggested by some authors to represent ''Homotherium,'' but other authors have argued that it more likely represents a [[Panthera spelaea|cave lion]] based on its anatomical proportions and the much greater abundance of cave lion remains compared to those of ''Homotherium'' in Late Pleistocene Europe.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Antón |first1=Mauricio |last2=Salesa |first2=Manuel J. |last3=Turner |first3=Alan |last4=Galobart |first4=Ángel |last5=Pastor |first5=Juan Francisco |date=July 2009 |title=Soft tissue reconstruction of Homotherium latidens (Mammalia, Carnivora, Felidae). Implications for the possibility of representations in Palaeolithic art |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0016699509000539 |journal=Geobios |language=en |volume=42 |issue=5 |pages=541–551 |doi=10.1016/j.geobios.2009.02.003|bibcode=2009Geobi..42..541A }}</ref>

At the end of the Late Pleistocene in North America, ''Homotherium serum'' co-existed with [[Paleo-Indians|Palaeoindians]], the first humans to inhabit the Americas. The effect of human hunting of large herbivores which ''H. serum'' relied upon may have been a contributory factor in its extinction along with other large carnivores in North America.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last1=Ripple |first1=William J. |last2=Van Valkenburgh |first2=Blaire |date=August 2010 |title=Linking Top-down Forces to the Pleistocene Megafaunal Extinctions |journal=[[BioScience]] |volume=60 |issue=7 |pages=516–526 |doi=10.1525/bio.2010.60.7.7 |issn=1525-3244}}</ref>