Giant Short Faced Bear (Arctodus simus)

[epaiva]

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

The Giant Short Faced Bear was 1,5 to 1,80 m (5 to 6 feet)  tall at the shoulder and rose to an impresive 3 m (10 feet) when standing on its hind legs, it weighted 600 to 800 kgs (1320 -  1760 pounds)  the giant was taller than a Polar Bear . The short muzzle gave it a more lion-like face than other bears, it has a relatively wide skull and very powerful jaws. Its closest living relative is the South American Spectacled Bears. What did they eat? Analysis of the bones of Short Faced Bears shows that they were exclusive meat eaters and they were well adapted to this task, their shortened jaws would have brought their crushing teeth closer to the back of the skulland so have increased their power. This Bear seen to be adapted for cracking large bones to extract the nutritious marrow.
Book Prehistoric America - Miles Barton, Nigel Bean, Stephen Dunleavy, Ian Gray, Adam White Reply

[epaiva]

Skeleton mounted bipedally and it stands just under 10 feet tall, and right about 8 feet at the shoulders.
Information of skeleton and picture courtesy of Mr William Simpson Head Collection of Field Museum in Chicago, USA

*This image is copyright of its original author

Reply

[GrizzlyClaws]

(02-28-2019, 07:48 AM)epaiva Wrote: Skeleton mounted bipedally and it stands just under 10 feet tall, and right about 8 feet at the shoulders.
Information of skeleton and picture courtesy of Mr William Simpson Head Collection of Field Museum in Chicago, USA

*This image is copyright of its original author

I guess the live specimen with flesh over the body should stand over 10 feet tall. Reply

[brobear]

Looks like a tiger's skull mounted onto a bear's skeleton. Very different bears. Reply

[smedz]

Here'e a documentary on the Short-Faced Bear 

Reply

[epaiva]

Giant Short Faced Bear in La Brea Tar Pits Museum
Credit to @feliperojas8

*This image is copyright of its original author

Reply

[epaiva]

Giant Short Faced Bears were very powerful animals as can be seen in its skeleton
Credit to @extint_earth_

*This image is copyright of its original author

Reply

[GreenGrolar]

(03-03-2019, 12:45 PM)brobear Wrote: Looks like a tiger's skull mounted onto a bear's skeleton. Very different bears.

The short faced bear is not called the most feline like of all bears for no reason at all  . They are also not as heavily built as other bears despite the fact they have the strongest jaws pound to pound. Reply

[epaiva]

Credit to Paleontology

*This image is copyright of its original author

Reply

[BorneanTiger]

The South American short-faced bear was believed to have been the largest bear ever to have existed. A skeleton was found in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, in 1935, and paleontologists Blaine Schubert (from East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee, the United States of America) and Leopoldo Soibelzon (from Argentina), used its huge humerus, about the size of that of an elephant to estimate the bear's weight as being 3,500 lbs (1,587.6 kg). By contrast, the North American short-faced bear was estimated to have weighed up to 2,500 lbs (1,134.0 kg): https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news...s-science/

Paleontologist Leopoldo Soibelzon holds the humerus (upper arm bone) of a South American short-faced bear next to that of an elephant:
    Reply

[GrizzlyClaws]

Ursus ingressus versus Actotherium angustidens is surely going to be an interesting matchup.

Since the former one got the longest recorded skull in the bear history at 57.14 cm, whereas the later one got shorter skull but maybe more robust and compact in comparison?

Maybe Arctotherium angustidens was anatomically built like its North American cousin which also possessed longer lanky limbs for the accustomization of roaming in the open grassland of South America. Reply

[Roberto]

(11-03-2019, 11:07 PM)GrizzlyClaws Wrote: Ursus ingressus versus Actotherium angustidens is surely going to be an interesting matchup.

Since the former one got the longest recorded skull in the bear history at 57.14 cm, whereas the later one got shorter skull but maybe more robust and compact in comparison?

Maybe Arctotherium angustidens was anatomically built like its North American cousin which also possessed longer lanky limbs for the accustomization of roaming in the open grassland of South America.

well Ursus ingressus, which has now changed to Ursus kanivetz, was the most bearish of all bears. The cave bears were probably the most robust and strongest of any bear in history pound for pound. The cave bear definitely was a better grappler than Angustidens as it is proven that those less robust, long fragile back limbs of the short faced bears did not enable them to be good grapplers. But aside from all that, Angustidens was the largest bear in history and at max weights, taking into consideration that one 3500 lb specimen found in Buenos Aires, it could had been double the weight of the cave bear so that there would have enable it to definitely win. Reply

[Verdugo]

(11-03-2019, 11:07 PM)GrizzlyClaws Wrote: Since the former one got the longest recorded skull in the bear history at 57.14 cm, whereas the later one got shorter skull but maybe more robust and compact in comparison?

Where does the 57 cm skull come from? Can you cite source for it? The largest Bear skulls i know of (of any Bears) are usually ~50 cm or slightly more than that. Reply

[GrizzlyClaws]

(11-04-2019, 04:08 AM)Roberto Wrote:

(11-03-2019, 11:07 PM)GrizzlyClaws Wrote: Ursus ingressus versus Actotherium angustidens is surely going to be an interesting matchup.

Since the former one got the longest recorded skull in the bear history at 57.14 cm, whereas the later one got shorter skull but maybe more robust and compact in comparison?

Maybe Arctotherium angustidens was anatomically built like its North American cousin which also possessed longer lanky limbs for the accustomization of roaming in the open grassland of South America.

well Ursus ingressus, which has now changed to Ursus kanivetz, was the most bearish of all bears. The cave bears were probably the most robust and strongest of any bear in history pound for pound. The cave bear definitely was a better grappler than Angustidens as it is proven that those less robust, long fragile back limbs of the short faced bears did not enable them to be good grapplers. But aside from all that, Angustidens was the largest bear in history and at max weights, taking into consideration that one 3500 lb specimen found in Buenos Aires, it could had been double the weight of the cave bear so that there would have enable it to definitely win.

If we take account about the specimen with the 57 cm skull, maybe it could manage to reduce the size gap with Arctotherium angustidens, and put a good fight against the larger opponent, although the larger SF bear would still likely end up as the victor.

About the robusticity, I'd say the Cave bear triumphs in the criteria like torso and limbs, and the SF bear got proportionally broader/shorter and more robust skull. Reply

[GrizzlyClaws]

(11-04-2019, 07:03 AM)Verdugo Wrote:

(11-03-2019, 11:07 PM)GrizzlyClaws Wrote: Since the former one got the longest recorded skull in the bear history at 57.14 cm, whereas the later one got shorter skull but maybe more robust and compact in comparison?

Where does the 57 cm skull come from? Can you cite source for it? The largest Bear skulls i know of (of any Bears) are usually ~50 cm or slightly more than that.

In a museum from a Southeast European country, most likely Croatia or Slovenia.

*This image is copyright of its original author

Reply