Ursus rossicus

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Ursus rossicus
Temporal range: Middle to Late Pleistocene, 0.25–0.027 Ma
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Ursus rossicus.jpg
Skeleton in Zoological Museum, Saint Petersburg
Scientific classification edit
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Ursidae
Genus: Ursus
Species:
U. rossicus
Binomial name
Ursus rossicus
Borissiak, 1930

Ursus rossicus (the Pleistocene small cave bear)[1] is an extinct species of bear that lived in the steppe regions of northern Eurasia and Siberia during the Pleistocene.

Discovery[]

Vereshchagin discovered the first U. rossicus remains in the Altai Mountains in 1973. Mandibles of the bear were found in Bachatsk Quarry, Krasni Yar (in Tomsk Province) and Mokhovo Quarry; skull fragments were found in Krasni Yar.[1]

Description[]

The small cave bear had a very broad, domed skull with a steep forehead. Its stout body had long thighs, massive shins and in-turning feet, making it similar in skeletal structure to the brown bear.[2] Cave bears were comparable in size to the largest modern-day bears.[3]

Diet[]

Cave bear teeth show greater wear than most modern bear species, suggesting a diet of tough materials. However, tubers and other gritty food, which cause distinctive tooth wear in modern brown bears, do not appear to have constituted a major part of cave bears' diets on the basis of dental microwear analysis.[4]

The morphological features of the cave bear chewing apparatus, including loss of premolars, have long been suggested to indicate their diets displayed a higher degree of herbivory than the Eurasian brown bear. Indeed, a solely vegetarian diet has been inferred on the basis of tooth morphology. Results obtained on the stable isotopes of cave bear bones also point to a largely vegetarian diet in having low levels of nitrogen-15 and carbon-13,[5] which are accumulated at a faster rate by carnivores as opposed to herbivores.

Cave bears of the last Ice Age lacked the usual two or three premolars present in other bears; to compensate, the last molar is very elongated, with supplementary cusps.[6]

References[]

  1. ^ a b Baryshnikov, G.; Foronova, I. (2001). "Pleistocene small cave bear (Ursus rossicus) from the South Siberia, Russia" (PDF). Cadernos Lab. Xeolóxico de Laxe. 26: 373–398.
  2. ^ Brown, Gary (1996). Great Bear Almanac. p. 340. ISBN 1-55821-474-7.
  3. ^ Macdonald, David (1992). The Velvet Claw. New York: Parkwest. p. 256. ISBN 0-563-20844-9.
  4. ^ Pinto Llona, A. C., Andrews, P. & Etxeberrı´a, P. 2005: Taphonomy and Palaeoecology of Cave Bears from the Quaternary of Cantabrian Spain. Fondacio´n de Asturias/Du Pont Ibe´rica/The Natural History Museum, Grafinsa, Oviedo.
  5. ^ Bocherens, H.; et al. (2006). "Bears and humans in Chauvet Cave (Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, Ardeche, France): Insights from stable isotopes and radiocarbon dating of bone collagen". Journal of Human Evolution. 50 (3): 370–376. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2005.12.002. PMID 16442587.
  6. ^ Gli orsi spelèi delle Conturines/ Ursus Spelaeus. Altabadia.it. Retrieved on 2011-09-26.


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