Cave Bears
Mounted female cave bear specimen with Drs. John Szabo, Ira Sasowsky, Lisa Park and Mr. John Gifford. |
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Frequenty Asked Questions What were cave bears? Cave bears (Ursus spelaeus)were massive bears that lived in Europe and were the most powerful Eurasian carnivores of their day. Although their size ranges could vary, the males often got as large as 900 pounds, which is about 3 times the size of the modern European Brown Bear. They usually had disproportionately large heads and the famales were typically smaller than the males. As a result of this size difference, 90% of all cave bears in museums today are males, because collectors typically would keep the largest or 'best' specimen for their collections. Cave bears can be found in cave deposits in Europe and are often numerous (one cave yielded 30,000 specimens) because the bears would hibernate in the caves and often died during the winter. When did they live? They lived between 500,000 to 10,000 years ago, going extinct at the end of the Pleistocene Epoch. Where did they live? They only lived in Europe, although they are related to the New World cave bears found in Florida. They were part of the fauna that existed during the last glaciation, along with woolly mammoths, woolly rhinoceros and cave lions. Typically, cave bears grew larger during glaciations and smaller during interglacials, probably to adjust from the rate of heat loss. What did they eat? There is a bit of controversy over what cave bears ate. Despite their large size and membership in the Order Carnivora, they were, for the most part, herbivorous (i.e. vegetarians), based upon isotopic studies on their teeth. Other carnivores, such as the Giant Panda are also herbivorous. Did they interact with humans at all? Yes. There is evidence from cave paintings and fossils found in association with cave bears suggesting hominids (archaic Homo sapiens and Neandertalensis) at least used their bones, although no evidence for butchering or tool marks have been found on the bones themselves. Akron's specimen Well preserved and mounted female cave bear specimens are fairly rare, making our specimen very unique. It was originally found in Brasov, Romania and was assembled in the United States. It is over 8 feet long and comprised of approximately 90-95% original bone material. The minimal amount of restoration and the mounting stance makes it a very valuable fossil. Our acquisition of the fossil was made possible by a generous donation of Mr. John Gifford, an alumnus of The University of Akron. For additional information
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