I know that this a statue photo but look at how awesome these animals must have been!! They were 4 feet tall at their shoulders and the wikipedia says probably ten percent larger than modern lions!! They lived in Eastern Europe into Asia and seem to have died off 11 to 13 thousand years ago, so humans would have definitely had to interact with these ferocious animals!!

Check out the wikipedia they have lots of information about how these animals evolved and if they are related to our modern species.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panthera_spelaea