Cave bear
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| Cave Bear | ||||||||||||||
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| Image:Ursus-spelaeus Höhlenbär.jpg Cave Bear skeleton
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| Ursus spelaeus Rosenmüller, 1794 |
The Cave Bear (Ursus spelaeus) was a species of bear which lived in Europe during the Pleistocene and became extinct at the end of the last ice age about 20,000 years ago. Both the name Cave Bear and the scientific name spelaeus derive from the fact that fossils of this species were mostly found in caves, indicating that this species spent more time in caves than the Brown Bear, which only uses caves for hibernation. Consequently, in the course of time, whole layers of bones, almost entirely those of cave bears, were found in many caves.
Many caves in Europe have skeletons of cave bears on display, for example the Heinrichshöhle in Hemer or the Dechenhöhle in Iserlohn, Germany. In Romania, there is a cave called Peştera Urşilor (Bears' Cave) where 140 cave bear skeletons were discovered in 1983.[1]
Being about 30% bigger than the Brown Bear, the most notable difference between the two species is the steeper forehead of the cave bear. It was an omnivore, eating herbs, grass, berries and honey occasionally. Whenever it smelled meat,it would try its best to find it. In the summer, particularly, it lived entirely on a plant diet. For that reason, it was not a Eurasian equivelent of the tall, lean Arctodus, as the latter was far more carnivorous, though the weight was about the same.
The change of climate at the end of the Würm Ice Age changed the flora significantly; however it was far from the first time an ice age had ended, and a human role in the extinction is possible. The cave bear was hunted intensively by early Paleolithic hunters, but it was not they who endangered its existence. Cave bears were affected much more adversely by reduction of the forests in the last glacial period. The cold, grassy steppe did not provide them with sufficient sustenance, and they died out. [citation needed]
It is suspected that cave bears were worshipped by some prehistoric Europeans, and shrines and altars have been found with cave bear-like carvings. A fictional interpretation of such worship can be found in Jean M. Auel's novel The Clan of the Cave Bear.
In May 2005, scientists in California succeeded in recovering and decoding DNA of a cave bear that lived between 42,000 and 44,000 years ago. The procedure used genomic DNA extracted from the animal's tooth, made use of powerful new computing technology developed for the human genome project. Sequencing the DNA directly (rather than first replicating it with the polymerase chain reaction), the scientists were able to recover 21 cave bear genes.[citation needed]
Trivia
Nigel Marven encountered a cave bear in the second episode of ITV's Prehistoric Park while trying to rescue a woolly mammoth.
External links
Gallery
an:Onso d'as espelungas cs:Medvěd jeskynní da:Hulebjørn de:Höhlenbärfr:Ours des cavernes hr:Špiljski medvjed it:Ursus spelaeus he:דוב המערות lt:Urvinis lokys hu:Barlangi medve nl:Holenbeerfi:Luolakarhu sv:Grottbjörn
Acknowledgement and Attribution Regarding Sources of Content
Some of the initial content on this page may be incorporated in part from copyleft sources in the public domain including wikis such as Wikipedia and AskDrWiki. Drug information for patients came from the The National Library of Medicine. Infectious disease information may have come from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Differential Diagnoses are drawn from clinicians as well as an amalgamation of 3 sources: 1.The Disease Database; 2. Kahan, Scott, Smith, Ellen G. In A Page: Signs and Symptoms. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004:3; 3. Sailer, Christian, Wasner, Susanne. Differential Diagnosis Pocket. Hermosa Beach, CA: Borm Bruckmeir Publishing LLC, 2002:7 .
