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 apex predators close to extinction, but in some parts of the world these predators are now returning. They are increasingly threatened by climate change. For example, the polar bear requires extensive areas of sea ice to hunt its prey, typically seals, but climate change is shrinking the sea ice of the Arctic, forcing polar bears to fast on land for increasingly long periods. Dramatic changes in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem were recorded after the gray wolf, both an apex predator and a keystone species (one with a large effect on its ecosystem), was reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in 1995