Bear of the caves

The bear of the caves (Ursus spelaeus) is a species of bear of big size which lived with the higher Pléistocène in most of the Europe, since the South of the England until the the Caucasus. The males reached 3,50 m in height in drawn up position and weighed around 450 kg, triple of the weight of a Brown bear of intermediate size. In addition to the size, the bears of the caves are easy to differentiate from the brown bears (with which they coexisted during almost all their existence) by their muzzle less developed and their face fleeing and low. Their Canine S, even if they are well developed, is it much less than their Molaire S powerful, evidence of a mode basically vegetarian and with a flesh-colored contribution more restricted than for the majority of the bears.

The front legs are longer and more robust than the legs postpones, which gives to the animal a profile flattened with the rear-axle unit.

In May 2005, of the researchers of California arrived to séquencer of DNA of bear of caves starting from remainders of bones discovered in the the Alps and dating of more than 40  000 years.

Habitat

The bears of the caves evolved/moved starting from the species Ursus deningeri, discovered in Europe in a great number of layers of the average Pleistocene, and from which derive also the current brown bears. The species appeared 250.000 years ago and it is extinct here a little more than 10.000 years. For this period, its habitat was restricted strictly with the mixed forests of the continent of Europe, by avoiding the herbaceous plains and the zones of Mediterranean vegetation. With so exclusive tastes, it should not be astonished that the species never abounded in glacial Europe , cold, dry and deprived of forests. The principal populations were in the North of Spain, France, the South of England and Germany, the North of Italy, the Balkans, the the Crimea and the the Caucasus, in the mountainous areas and protected from the cold winds of north which were used as refuge with the last forests of the continent. Such a reduction in the sectors timbered during the maximum glacial ones forced the populations of bear of the caves to living often isolated and exposed them to the Consanguinité.

Like the brown bears, the bears of the caves were solitary animals. After being itself awaked in spring of their long Hibernation, they spent the good season to be nourished, primarily grass, fruits and sheets, which they crushed with their powerful molars. The rut was to occur in summer, since the fossils discovered indicate that the bear cubs were born during the winter, as it is the case for the other current species of bear. At the end of the autumn, the bears sought caves where to spend the winter. If the year had been bad, it was not rare that the bear died of hunger during the hibernation for lack of reserves. It is precisely at the bottom of the caves that one found the majority of the remainders of bear of the caves, and this is why they received their name.

Relation with the paleolithic man

The bears of the caves were to fight with many other animals to reserve a refuge where to spend the winter, among them of large carnivores like the brown bears, the Hyène S giants and the lions of the caves. The caves were as disputed to them by the men of the Paléolithique, as well the Néandertaliens as those of our species. Moreover, the archaeological discoveries show that the bears of the caves, in spite of their size and their force, were rather often used as game when the men left in hunting; the English layer of Boxgrove seems to indicate the great seniority of this practice, since here already 480.000 years, the ancestors of the bears of the caves (Ursus deningeri) could be victims of the ancestors of Néandertaliens ( Homo heidelbergensis ). Naturally, the hunters avoided clashing with the too powerful adult males and held their attacks with the young people and the females.

See too

Related articles

  • the Mount Granier, one of largest and the richest layers of bones of bear of the caves.

References

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