Steppe brown bear

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Ursus arctos priscus
Temporal range: Pleistocene
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Fossil theriofauna from the Sudety Mts (SW Poland) (fig. 2).png
Illustration of a steppe brown bear battling a cave lion
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Ursidae
Genus: Ursus
Species:
U. arctos
Subspecies:
†U. a. priscus
Trinomial name
†Ursus arctos priscus

The steppe brown bear (Ursus arctos priscus) is a disputed extinct subspecies of brown bear that lived in Eurasia during either the Pleistocene or the early Holocene epochs, but its geological age is uncertain. [1] Fossils of the bear have been found in various caves in Slovakia, particularly those of Vazec, Vyvieranie, Lisková, Kupcovie Izbicka, and Okno. [2] Other authors have argued that the subspecies should be rendered invalid, as its geological age is unclear and "its skull is identical to modern U. arctos." [3] [1]

Description

Adult males in average would have weighed 700–800 kg (1,500–1,800 lb), with the largest individuals weighing up to 1,000 kg (2,200 lb). [4] It would have been more carnivorous than a modern brown bear, consuming 50 kg (110 lb) of meat per day. [4]

References

  1. 1 2 Villalba de Alvarado, M., Collado Giraldo, H., Arsuaga, J. L., Bello Rodrigo, J. R., Heteren, A. H., & Gómez‐Olivencia, A. (2021). Looking for the earliest evidence of Ursus arctos LINNAEUS, 1758 in the Iberian Peninsula: the Middle Pleistocene site of Postes cave. Boreas, 51(1), 159–184. https://doi.org/10.1111/bor.12537
  2. ↑ Sabol, M. (2001), Fossil Brown Bears of Slovakia (Los osos pardos fósiles de Eslovaquia) (PDF), vol. 26, Bratislava: Cadernos Lab. Xeolóxico de Laxe Coruña, pp. 311–316, ISSN   0213-4497
  3. ↑ Pacher, M. (2007). The type specimen of Ursus priscus Goldfuss, 1810 and the uncertain status of Late Pleistocene brown bears. Neues Jahrbuch f€ur Geologie und Pal€aontologie, Abhandlungen 245, 331–339.
  4. 1 2 Marciszak, A., Schouwenburg, C., Lipecki, G., Talamo, S., Shpansky, A., Malikov, D., & Gornig, W. (2019). Steppe brown bear Ursus arctos “priscus” from the Late Pleistocene of Europe. Quaternary International, 534, 158–170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2019.02.042


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