Ancient Bears, Oligocene to present--forest Options

[Atlantean_Queen]

Early bears are considered “bear-dogs’ that existed from 50 million years ago until about 5 million years ago. This term ‘bear-dog’ comes from the appearance of the early bears. They had bear-like features of the body, size, and mobility, but the head and teeth resembled features of a dog. They were found in Asia, Europe and North America.


Ursus spelaceus
Time: Pleistocene to recent
Locale: Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, UK & former USSR
Size: 6 feet 6 inches/ 2 m in length
This genus are the bears of today that include the American Black bear, Grizzly and Polar Bears.
During the last Ice Age these bears mostly roamed Europe, surviving winters by hibernating in the alpine caves. They must have all hibernated together as they have found large piles of many fossil bones together.
There is the “Dragon’s Cave’ in Austria where they have found the remains of more than 30,000 cave bears, most seemed to have died in their sleep, maybe during hibernation.
These bears are believed to be vegetarians and their bones were important to the Neanderthal people that hunted them.

Information/photos: Simon & Schuster: Dinosaur Encyclopedia, Illnl.gov, uni.tuebingen.de

This post has been edited by Atlantean_Queen: Jul 14 2006, 05:59 AM

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[Atlantean_Queen]

Amphicyon
Time: Middle Oligocene to early Miocene
Locale: Germany, France and North America
Size: Approximately 6 feet 6 inches/ 2 m in length
This was the ‘typical bear-dog’. It is believed to have looked more like a bear but with a heavy tail and the teeth of a wolf.
It may have lived very much like today’s modern grizzly bear.

credits: biggameatinfoseek.com,amnh.org, encyclopedia britannica, simon & schuster dino encyclopedia

This post has been edited by Atlantean_Queen: Jul 14 2006, 02:37 AM

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[Atlantean_Queen]

Agriotherium
Time: Late Miocene to Pleistocene
Locale: Africa (Namibia), China, & France
Size; 6 feet 6inches/ 2 m in length
These bears were found in southwestern Africa mostly. This bear was larger than today’s Kodiak, (the world’s largest living land carnivore). Although primitive and had some dog-like features. Its teeth, however, did develop into the typical bear pattern, so it is assumed to be omnivorous.

credits: geocities.com, museums.org, encyclopedia britannica, simon & schuster dino encyclopedia

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[Atlantean_Queen]

Hemicyan
Time: early to late Miocene
Locale: Mongolia, France, Spain, & North America
Size: 5 feet/ 1.5 m in length
These ‘bears’ looked more like dogs. They were lightly built for a bear and maybe more carnivorous than most bears, as well as the dog mobility as features.
It is believed they may have roamed in packs as well.

Credits: Encyclopedia Brittanica, Simon & Shcusters Dino Encyclopedia, piclibhm.ac.uk, merian.fr.bw

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[PsychicZookeeper]

Wouldn't want to be anywhere near those fangs!

Agriotherium -- says it was in southwestern Africa. I can't think of any bears in Africa today. Am I being dense, or did bears die out in Africa?

[Atlantean_Queen]

Funny you mention that...

As I was re-doing the pics, I wondered that too and found in Wikipedia it just says:

" Agriotherium was found in Namibia (also in France and China); currently there are no more bears in existence in Africa."

[Dr Rick]

African bears? What an interesting question! Nandi Bear - cryptozoology.com reviews some evidence that there may be, or recently have been, bears in Africa, but whether you believe a word of it or not is another thing.

When I was a kid in Zimbabwe, some people used to call the aardvark the ant bear, but it is not a bear! Aardvark means 'earth pig' but it is not a pig either! So not only are actual bears absent from Africa (probably) but also the only creature in Africal sometimes called a bear is actually unrelated to any other living mammal!

great thread - I look forward to the next species with interest. I'd love to see some of these as UCIs!! Has anyone ever seen a cave bear UCI?

Dr Rick

[Mngwa]

Ahhh, the Nandi bear. It was regularly reported in Kenya throughout the 1800's and early 1900's. Bernard Heuvelmans's "On the Track of Unknown Animals" is likely the best chronicle of Nandi bear sightings in print. Some are actually quite convincing. I stumbled across reference to an alleged sighting from the mid-1990's a couple of years ago, but no details and no names to follow up on it were provided. If it was a real critter and not a series of misidentifications of a hyena, ratel or other known animal, I would guess the Nandi bear has gone extinct.

The last species of bear known from Africa was the Atlas bear, variously classified as Ursus arctos crowtheri, a subspecies of the brown bear, and as its own species, Ursus crowtheri. I believe it is officially recognized as U. a. crowtheri now. The Atlas bear was confined to the North African countries from Morrocco to Libya. The last one was killed in the mid-1800's, in the Tetuan Mountains of Morroco, IIRC, although reports still surface. It is often cited as a candidate for the Nandi bear, but IMHO that's a stretch.

I've read Heuvelmans's work several times, and I don't recall him ever pushing the idea that it was another species of aardvark. I've never read the glossary entry at CZ.com for the Nandi bear before, even though I post there often. Heuvelmans does include one account in "On the Track of Unknown Animals" that is so obviously an aardvark that it is pathetic, but that is for contrast to the other sightings and he points that out.

Mngwa

[PsychicZookeeper]

I knew our wonderful members would have some info. Thanks so much!!