Huge Cave Bears: When and Why They Disappeared

Enormous cave bears that once inhabited Europe were the first of the mega-mammals to die out, going extinct around 13 millennia earlier than was previously thought, according to a new estimate.

Cave bears were huge, with males growing up to around 2,200 pounds (1,000 kg). The maximum recorded weight of both Kodiak bears and polar bears - the largest bears living today - is 1,760 pounds (800 kg), with averages of around 1,100 pounds (500 kg).

Some researchers think humans hunted the mega-mammals to extinction, but researcher Martina Pacher of the University of Vienna and her colleague Anthony J. Stuart of the Natural History Museum, London, found no convincing evidence for this idea regarding cave bears.

Another excellent book for those interested particularly in the cave bear is ‘The Cave Bear Story’ by Bjorn Kurten, published in 1976.

http://www.donsmaps.com/bear.html

THE BEAR

The morphological features of their chewing apparatus suggest both herbivorous behaviour and important adaptations to a tough vegetarian diet. Results obtained on the stable isotopic yield of cave bear bones are interpreted as indicators of a largely vegetarian diet.[8] The bones of central and western European cave bears matched those of vegetarians in having low levels of nitrogen-15, which is accumulated by meat eaters. However, several cave bear sites in the Peştera cu Oase in the southwestern tip of the Carpathian mountains have shown that the cave bears of that region may have been largely carnivorous, due to higher levels of nitrogen-15 in their bones. This behavior is also evident from very large cave bear tooth marks on young cave bear skulls in Yarimburgaz Cave in western Turkey.[9]

It is thought that cannibalistic scavenging constituted a minor part of an otherwise chiefly vegetarian diet, thus leaving no identifiable isotopic signature in the bones of central and western European specimens. Dental Microwear Analyses indicates that the cave bear may have fed on a greater quantity of bone than it's contemporary, the smaller Eurasian Brown Bear.[8]

From wiki

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.