Bears of the Pleistocene

[brotherbear]

The Cave Bear Story... So the head of a bear, or of any mammal for that matter, has a purpose, or rather a number of purposes. To begin with, it serves to carry the main sense organs and the brain. Let us compare the eye sockets of the cave bear with those of the brown bear; we find that those of the cave bear are relatively small, and we may conclude that its eyesight was relatively feeble. On the other hand, the nasal cavity of the cave bear is quite large and suggests a keen sense of smell. Dissection of the inner ear may give an idea of the acuteness of the hearing, but this has not been done. 
The brain of the cave bear is not as large as you might expect from the size of the head. It is concealed far down at the back of the skull and is no larger than that of a normal brown bear. So it may be thought that the cave bear was not a particularly intelligent animal. 
In addition to the two already mentioned, the head has another purpose: to grasp and chew food. This function is fulfilled by the jaws and teeth and the muscles that operate them. This apparatus is very large in relation to the other parts of the skull. To it belong not only the actual jaws and teeth, but also the great zygomatic arches that jut out on both sides, and the great crest that passes along the top of the skull, uniting at the back with an almost equally prominent cross crest. These arches and crests serve to attach the muscles that move the jaws.  Reply