The
cave hyena (
Crocuta crocuta spelaea), also known as the
Ice Age spotted hyena, was a
paleosubspecies of
spotted hyena which ranged from the
Iberian Peninsula to eastern
Siberia. It is one of the best known mammals of the
Ice Age, and is well represented in many European bone caves. The cave hyena was a highly specialised animal, with its progressive and regressive features being more developed than in its modern African relative. It preyed on large mammals (primarily
wild horses,
steppe wisent and
woolly rhinoceros), and was responsible for the accumulation of hundreds of large Pleistocene mammal bones in areas including horizontal
caves,
sinkholes, mud pits and muddy areas along rivers.