Atlas the Barbary lion versus the Bengal tiger of Simla its subspecies, was "the largest or most formidable of all African felidae", and therefore, that it was bigger than the Asiatic lion. However, it is not unanimously held that the Barbary and Cape lions were the largest lions (See "Physical comparison of tigers and lions"). Nevertheless, an English Colonel called 'Maitland', who supported the tiger, described the lion as a 'monster'. Both were hungry, as their diets had been reduced from their regular intake of food, beforehand. "Gettysburg Compiler" (1899) said "If the tiger was the personification of graceful strength and supple energy, the lion was the embodiment of massive
Apex predator an environment is suggestive. "Anomalocaris" was an aquatic apex predator, in the Cambrian. Its mouthparts are clearly predatory, and there were no larger animals in the seas at that time. Carnivorous theropod dinosaurs including "Allosaurus" and "Tyrannosaurus" have been described as apex predators, based on their size and dietary needs. A Permian shark, "Triodus sessilis", was discovered containing two amphibians ("Archegosaurus decheni" and "Cheliderpeton latirostre"), one of which had consumed a fish, "Acanthodes bronni", showing that the shark had lived at a trophic level of at least 4. Among more recent fossils, the sabre-tooth cats, like "Smilodon", are considered to