| Ungava brown bear Temporal range: Late Pleistocene – Recent | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 1910 photograph | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Ursidae |
| Genus: | Ursus |
| Species: | U. arctos |
| Subspecies: | U. a. horribilis |
| Population: | Ungava brown bear |
The Ungava brown bear is an extinct population of grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) that inhabited the forests of northern Quebec and Labrador until the early 20th century.
Other names are the "Labrador grizzly bear" [4] and "Labrador-Ungava grizzly." [2]
The Ungava brown bear originally lived in the northern part of the Labrador Peninsula, known as the Ungava Peninsula in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Labrador. Its habitat was similar to other grizzlies, including boreal forest and tundra. [5]
Until concrete evidence suggesting its existence was discovered in 1975, biologists typically discounted the idea that a grizzly bear had once roamed northern Quebec. Various reports of brown bears from 1900 to 1950 were written off as colour morphs of the more common American black bear. [2] [6] Reports of its existence were doubtful at best, until a skull was unearthed by anthropologist Steven Cox in 1975. [2] [6]
One of the earliest pieces of evidence supporting the existence of a grizzly bear in Labrador is a map of the region drawn in 1550 by French cartographer Pierre Desceliers, which depicts three bears on the coast. One bear is white and is certainly a polar bear, while the other two are brown. [4]
In the late 1700s, Labrador area trader George Cartwright wrote in his journal of a bear with markings consistent to those of young grizzly bears: [4] [7]
The beasts, are bears both black and white (of the latter I am told there are two kinds, one of which have a white ring around their necks...and the Esquimaux say, "They are very ferocious," but I never saw one of them, or even a skin)
— George Cartwright, [7]
Fur trappers' reports from local Moravian mission posts indicate that brown bear pelts were regularly recorded from the 1830s to the 1850s. [6]
The first photographic evidence of bears in Labrador dates to 1910. American ethnologist and northern explorer William Brooks Cabot made several visits to the Labrador region between 1899 and 1925, studying the Innu people. While on a canoeing expedition with Innu hunters, Cabot came upon and photographed a bear skull mounted on a pole. Upon examination of this photograph, by comparing it to other bear skulls, Harvard anthropologists Arthur Spiess and Stephen Loring concluded in 2007 that the skull belonged to a small brown bear. [5]
In the summer of 1975, Harvard anthropologist Steven Cox discovered a small bear skull while excavating an Inuit midden on Okak Island, near Okak in Labrador. The specimen consists of a nearly complete cranium, as well as several molars. The skull is the property of Newfoundland and Labrador and is held in the Provincial Museum of Newfoundland and Labrador. By studying wear on the molars, Cox determined that the skull belonged to a full-grown but small female grizzly bear. [2]
In 1910, a skull found east of the George River at an Innu camp was photographed and later determined to be a grizzly bear. The discovery of more bear bones in the area is thought to be unlikely, due to the Innu practice of consuming, utilizing or otherwise disposing of every part of hunted animals. [5]
It is not known exactly when the Ungava brown bear died out, but reports of their sightings slowly declined throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, and the population was most likely extinct by the latter part of the 20th century, [2] at least partly due to fur trapping. [4]
The brown bear is a large bear native to Eurasia and North America. It is one of the largest land carnivorans, rivaled in size only by its closest relative, the polar bear, which is much less variable in size and slightly bigger on average. The brown bear is a sexually dimorphic species, as adult males average around 30% larger in most populations. Brown bears are often not fully brown; the pelage can be reddish to yellowish-brown, and dark brown to cream in color. They are the only extant bears with a hump formed entirely of muscle on their shoulders. The paws are large and allow the bear to effectively dig through dirt. Its teeth are similar to those of other bears and reflect its dietary plasticity.
The American black bear, also known as the black bear, is a species of medium-sized bear endemic to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. It is an omnivore, with a diet varying greatly depending on season and location. It typically lives in largely forested areas but will leave forests in search of food and is sometimes attracted to human communities due to the immediate availability of food.
Labrador is a geographic and cultural region within the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is the primarily continental portion of the province and constitutes 71% of the province's area but is home to only 6% of its population. It is separated from the island of Newfoundland by the Strait of Belle Isle. It is the largest and northernmost geographical region in the four Atlantic provinces.
The Innu / Ilnu or Innut / Innuat / Ilnuatsh ("people"), formerly called Montagnais from the French colonial period, are the Indigenous Canadians who inhabit the territory in the northeastern portion of the present-day province of Labrador and some portions of Quebec. They refer to their traditional homeland as Nitassinan or Innu-assi.
The California grizzly bear, also known as the California golden bear, is an extinct population of the brown bear, generally known as the grizzly bear. "Grizzly" could have meant "grizzled" – that is, with golden and grey tips of the hair – or "fear-inspiring". Nonetheless, after careful study, naturalist George Ord formally classified it in 1815 – not for its hair, but for its character – as Ursus horribilis. Genetically, North American brown bears are closely related; in size and coloring, the California grizzly bear was much like the Kodiak bear of the southern coast of Alaska. The grizzly became a symbol of the Bear Flag Republic, a moniker that was attached to the short-lived attempt by a group of U.S. settlers to break away from Mexico in 1846. Later, this rebel flag became the basis for the state flag of California, and then California was known as the "Bear State".
The Ungava Peninsula, officially Péninsule d'Ungava, is the far northwestern part of the Labrador Peninsula of the province of Quebec, Canada. Bounded by Hudson Bay to the west, Hudson Strait to the north, and Ungava Bay to the east, it covers about 252,000 km2 (97,000 sq mi). Its northernmost point is Cape Wolstenholme, which is also the northernmost point of Quebec. The peninsula is also part of the Canadian Shield, and consists entirely of treeless tundra dissected by large numbers of rivers and glacial lakes, flowing generally east–west in a parallel fashion. The peninsula was not deglaciated until 6,500 years ago and is believed to have been the prehistoric centre from which the vast Laurentide Ice Sheet spread over most of North America during the last glacial epoch.
The District of Ungava was a regional administrative district of Canada's Northwest Territories from 1895 to 1920, although it effectively ceased operation in 1912. It covered the northern portion of what is today Quebec, the interior of Labrador, and the offshore islands to the west and north of Quebec, which are now part of Nunavut.
An ursid hybrid is an animal with parents from two different species or subspecies of the bear family (Ursidae). Species and subspecies of bear known to have produced offspring with another bear species or subspecies include American black bears, grizzly bears, and polar bears, all of which are members of the genus Ursus. Bears not included in Ursus, such as the giant panda, are expected to be unable to produce hybrids with other bears. The giant panda bear belongs to the genus Ailuropoda.
A grizzly-polar-bear-hybrid is a rare ursid hybrid that has occurred both in captivity and in the wild. In 2006, the occurrence of this hybrid in nature was confirmed by testing the DNA of a unique-looking bear who had been shot near Sachs Harbour, Northwest Territories, on Banks Island in the Canadian Arctic. The number of confirmed hybrids has since risen to eight, all of them descending from the same female polar bear.
The Mexican grizzly bear is an extinct population of the grizzly bear in the Southwestern United States and Mexico.
Bears have been hunted since prehistoric times for their meat and fur. In addition to being a source of food, in modern times they have been favored by big game hunters due to their size and ferocity. Bear hunting has a vast history throughout Europe and North America, and hunting practices have varied based on location and type of bear.
George River, formerly the East or George's River, is a river in northeastern Quebec, Canada, that flows from Lake Jannière mainly north to Ungava Bay.
The Ussuri brown bear, also known as the Ezo brown bear, Russian grizzly bear, or the black grizzly bear, is a subspecies of the brown bear or a population of the Eurasian brown bear. One of the largest brown bears, a very large Ussuri brown bear may approach the Kodiak bear in size. It is not to be confused with the North American grizzly bear.
The grizzly bear, also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America.
The Alaska Peninsula brown bear or "peninsular grizzly" is a colloquial nomenclature for a possible brown bear subspecies that lives in the coastal regions of southern Alaska. It may be a population of the mainland grizzly bear subspecies.
Ursus dolinensis is an extinct mammalian carnivore species of the Ursidae family. Its fossilized remains were unearthed from the lowest layers of the stratigraphic sequence at the archaeological and paleontological site of Gran Dolina, that is a part of the Atapuerca Mountains complex in the Burgos province, northern Spain. The species was described by Nuria Garcia and Juan Luis Arsuaga in a 2001 publication. Skeletal fossils, mainly cranial fragments were recovered from the sediment units TD 3 and in particular TD 4. Presence in these layers suggests a chronology in between 900,000 and 780,000 years ago, which falls into the Calabrian stage of the early Pleistocene.
Formerly or currently considered subspecies or populations of brown bears have been listed as follows:
The brown bear is one of the most omnivorous animals in the world and has been recorded to consume the greatest variety of foods of any bear. Throughout life, this species is regularly curious about the potential of eating virtually any organism or object that they encounter. Certainly no other animal in their given ecosystems, short perhaps of other bear species and humans, can claim to feed on as broad a range of dietary opportunities. Food that is both abundant and easily obtained is preferred. Their jaw structure has evolved to fit their dietary habits. Their diet varies enormously throughout their differing areas based on opportunity. In spring, winter-provided carrion, grasses, shoots, sedges and forbs are the dietary mainstays for brown bears from almost every part of their distribution. Fruits, including berries, become increasingly important during summer and early autumn. Roots and bulbs become critical in autumn for some inland bear populations if fruit crops are poor. The dietary variability is illustrated in the western United States, as meat made up 51% of the average year-around diet for grizzly bears from Yellowstone National Park, while it made up only 11% of the year-around diet for grizzlies from Glacier National Park a few hundred miles to the north.
Brown bears were once native to Europe, much of Asia, the Atlas Mountains of Africa, and North America, but are now extirpated in some areas, and their populations have greatly decreased in other areas. There are approximately 200,000 brown bears left in the world. The largest population is in Russia, with 120,000 individuals. The brown bear occupies the largest range of habitats of any Ursus species with recorded observations in every temperate northern forest and at elevations as high as 5,000 m.
Protarctos is an extinct genus of basal ursine bear that lived in North America and Eurasia during the Pliocene and into Early Pleistocene.
A Journal of Transactions and Events during a Residence of nearly Sixteen Years on the Coast of Labrador.
