Specimen of the Month: Large, Ancient Beasts

Are you familiar with the megafauna of ancient times? Imagine our planet over 25,000 years ago, where extraordinarily large beasts once roamed the land. We know many of these animals today simply by name alone—the woolly mammoth, saber-toothed cats, and giant ground sloths. Among them were the cave bears, who continue to live on through remains preserved in museums.

The fossilized remains of cave bears (Ursus spelaeus) are commonly found in caves throughout Europe and Asia. While early discoveries have often attributed their bones to an array of unrelated and even mythological animals, the story of cave bears unravels more and more as we continue to uncover their skeletons. 

What makes caves bear so different from the species we know today? Not much, actually. From their remains, scientists have been able to hypothesize that these ancient species lived similarly to modern bears. Perhaps the most distinct difference can be found simply with a visual comparison of their skulls. 

Above, the replica skull of cave bear Ursus spelaeus.
Below, the skull of the modern black bear Ursus americanus.
(Note, the lower jaw of the cave bear is positioned far forward on the skull only
 because of the wire placement which it hangs on.)

Notice that the Museum's replica skull of a cave bear is much larger than the skull of a black bear. Cave bears were over twice the size of our Northwoods black bears today—and still bigger than our largest modern species, the brown bear. Considering these giants once lived among early modern humans, it's amazing to learn that they had been hunted extensively!