Bears of the Pleistocene

[brotherbear]

www.researchgate.net/publication/233639688_The_type_specimen_of_Ursus_priscus_GOLDFUSS_1818_and_the_uncertain_status_of_Late_Pleistocene_brown_bears

carnivoraforum.com/topic/30156737/1/

Steppe brown bear Ursus arctos priscus
Goldfuss, 1818 – huge scavenger
of Late Pleistocene grasslands
paleocommunities
Adrian Marciszak1 – Charles Schouwenbourg2 –
Grzegorz Lipecki3 – Wiktoria Gornig1 – Vlastislav Káňa4 –
Martina Roblíčková4
1 Department of Paleozoology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Faculty of
Biological Sciences, University of Wrocław, Sienkiewicza 21, 50-335 Wrocław,
Poland; [email protected], [email protected] 2 Dorpsstraat 53, 3238BB Zwartewaal, Netherlands;
[email protected] 3 Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals, Polish Academy of
Sciences, Sławkowska 17, 31-016 Kraków, Poland; [email protected] 4 Moravian Museum, Anthropos Institute, Zelný trh 6, 659 37 Brno,
Czech Republic; [email protected], [email protected]
With opportunistic behaviour, extremely broad diet, ability to adapt to various
habitats ranging from semi-deserts to Arctic tundra, including arid and
mountain areas, Ursus arctos could adapt to the changes of environmental
conditions. The brown bear remains from many European sites document
the occurrence of a very particular kind of bear. This giant bear, called steppe
brown bear Ursus arctos priscus, was a rare but permanent member of open
grasslands mammal palaeocommunities. It is very characteristic that this form
is always strangely difficult to find not only in open sites but also in caves.
Compared to other carnivores, the steppe brown bear was never common in
one locality and tended to be a solitary hunter and scavenger, which required
large expanses of open grassland. This bear was a scavenger and kleptopa -
rasit, whose huge size gave it advantage over other predators (also ancient
hunters) (Fig. 1). It also followed herds of herbivores and took animals which
died naturally or in another way. Occasionally it also hunted. In its behaviour,
it resembled the modern Ursus maritimus or Arctodus simus from North
America in the past. It can be conjectured that, except pregnant females,
the steppe brown bear was active year-round following herbivores and other
carnivores in search of food. 
 
Isotopic analysis shows that brown bears were highly carnivorous till the late
glacial and became more omnivorous with the change of climate and environmental
conditions. The last postglacial warming brought about a shrinkage of
open grasslands, disappearance of ungulate herds and expansion of forests.
The largest species like mammoths, rhinoceros, and some bovids became entirely
extinct, other forms lived in smaller herds or small groups, and carcasses
were much harder to obtain than previously. The density was much lower,
and the amount of available food much smaller. There was not enough food
and space for such a huge bear. During the postglacial times, the brown bear
slowly dwarfed, and also smaller bears similar to the nominate subspecies
entered from the south and southeast. The dwarfing process, however, was
not the same in entire Europe, since in some regions large, robust bears of
priscus-type survived longer. The form is only a smaller descendant of the Late
Pleistocene form, which occurred till the early Holocene over the coast of the
North and Baltic Seas as well as in some parts of Germany and Poland. Some
populations slowly retreated to the northeast, while others were genetically
swamped by the modern European bear. Finally, in the early Holocene, the
modern brown bear appeared and became the sole bear species in Europe. 
 
What in fact was the steppe brown bear
Ursus arctos priscus Goldfuss, 1818?
Adrian Marciszak1 – Charles Schouwenbourg2 –
Wiktoria Gornig1
1 Department of Paleozoology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Faculty of
Biological Sciences, University of Wrocław, Sienkiewicza 21, 50-335 Wrocław,
Poland; [email protected], [email protected] 2 Dorpsstraat 53, 3238BB Zwartewaal, Netherlands;
[email protected]
Steppe brown bear Ursus arctos priscus is a very particular kind of bear. This
giant arctoid bear (Fig. 1), was a rare but permanent member of open grasslands
mammal palaeocommunities. Described almost two centuries ago, till
recent there are no sharply defined metrical and morphological features characterising
this form. Many authors proposed in the past factors like great size,
robust build, massive metapodials and a significant amount of speleoid features
in morphology, especially dentition. But till new, partially because not a
sufficient number of specimens, partially because of the enormous variability
of the brown bear as a species.
Obtained so far by us data showed that genetic analysis is no answer, what in
fact is steppe brown bear. Our metrical and morphological analysis revealed
that it is an example of the plasticity of Ursus arctos and answer of the species
for the availability of the large amount of meat in open grasslands in steppetundra.
It should be considered as a different chronoform/ecomorph, which
features like immense posture and broad teeth are an expression of specialisation
to scavenge. Moreover, the bear remains in somewhat older faunal assemblages,
often coexisted with thermophile species such as Palaeoloxodon
antiquus or Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis, might indicate the presence of
another form, closely related to the steppe brown bear. The Taubach bear
Ursus arctos taubachensis Rode, 1935, which appeared already in the late
Middle Pleistocene, is a characteristic component of European interglacial
faunas like Taubach, Weimar Ehringsdorf, Kent’s Cavern or Tornewton Cave
(Kurtén, 1957). Sometimes synonymised with Ursus arctos priscus, it differs
nevertheless in some metric and morphological features (Baryshnikov, 2007),
which points to a distinct form (Marciszak et al., 2017). The problem needs
further adna analysis, which may resolve the presence of other bear forms
in Silesian open sites. Reply