Bears of the Pleistocene

[brotherbear]

Ice Age Mammals of North America by Ian M. Lange.

Florida Cave Bear - Tremarctos floridanus.

The Florida cave bear arrived in North America about 1.3 million years ago and went extinct about 8,000 years ago or later. This large but relatively small-toothed animal ranged widely in the southern United States. Its dentition suggests that it was probably vegetarian. The Florida cave bear was a large and muscular creature similar in shape, diet, and habits to the also-extinct European cave bear ( Ursus spelaeus ), and larger than its North American cousin the lesser short-faced bear ( Arctodus pristinus ).

Both Florida cave bears and European cave bears had skulls larger than those of most living bears except big grizzly bears. Their skulls, however, had a domed or vaulted forehead that is not seen in other species. Their large did not contain proportionally larger brains than those of their other large cousins. The bears had large nasal cavities but small eye sockets, leading paleontologists to theorize that these cave bears probably had poor eyesight but a good sense of smell. The cave bears had the large grinding teeth of herbivores rather than the small grinding teeth of omnivorous grizzly bears, so they were most likely strict vegetarians.

Both sexes of cave bears had barrel-shaped bodies and big heads on long necks. They had short but very heavy and powerful limbs and feet, and wide paws. These massive beasts probably lumbered slowly along, swaying from side to side in their quest for tasty vegetation. Male cave bears were considerably larger than females. An average-sized male probably weighed 900 to 1,000 pounds and considerably more in the fall before hibernation.

During the Rancholabrean Land Mammal Age, the Florida cave bear inhabited swamps, lowlands, and valleys across the southern states from Florida to New Mexico and as far north as Georgia and Tennessee. Remains have been found in caves and sinkholes, commonly with those of black bears. Remains of European cave bear are plentiful in caves across central and southern Europe from southern England and the Pyrenees Mountains of northern Spain to the Caucasus Mountains in the east.

The Florida cave bear was also similar to, but much larger than, the present-day South American spectacled bear, a 440-pound fellow that is barely surviving in mountainous regions of Panama south to Peru and Bolivia. Reply