Bear Evolution

[brotherbear]

The Cave Bear Story... By mid-Villafranchian times, some 2.5 million years ago, changes had proceeded far enough for Ursus minimus to give rise to a new species: the Etruscan bear, Ursus etruscus, the typical bear of the later Villafranchian. This speicies, whose characters are known through numerous remains in Spain, France, and Italy, was also present in China. In the flesh it probably resembled living black bears, though of course its color is unknown to us. Through the Villafranchian age this trend towards large size continued in the Etruscan bear; late Villafranchian forms are larger than mid-Villafranchian ones. 
The Etruscan bear is now as big as the living European brown bear, but it still carries the full complement of premolars ( albeit very small ones ) as an inheritance from the ancient ursavi and their doglike predecessors.  Reply