Cave BearUrsus spelaeus
The Cave Bear is an extinct species that lived in Europe, during the Pleistocene Period. The name comes from the fact that most of the fossils were found in caves.
They were about 30% bigger than their closest relative the Brown Bear. They had a steeper forehead than the Brown Bear. It was an omnivore that ate grass, herbs, berries and occasionally small animals.
In May of 2005, scientists in California recovered and decoded some DNA of this Prehistoric Bear that lived 44-42,000 years ago. They were able to recover 21 of its genes.
Most fossil teeth and bones are found in the dry cave deposits from the Carpathian Mountains of Romania. In Romania, there was one cave called “bears cave” where 140 skeletons of this species were found, in 1983.
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