Its long limbs, especially, have been taken as evidence that it ran down its unfortunate prey, though it would not have been above running dire wolves or saber-toothed cats off their kills, either. There are a few things that “everyone knows” about Arctodus: that it was short-faced, had long limbs, and was more carnivorous than living grizzly bears. It was the epitome of the big, bad bear, but just how bad was it? As argued by paleontologists Borja Figueirido, Juan Perez-Claros, Vanessa Torregrosa, Alberto Martin-Serra, and Paul Palmqvist, the popular image of the short-faced bear as a hypercarnivorous superpredator may have obscured the reality of the beast. The first human inhabitants of this continent undoubtedly encountered it from time to time, and the prospect of meeting a bear which stood five feet at the shoulder is a chilling one. By Oscar San-Isidro, from Figueirido et al., 2010Īrctodus simus, the short-faced bear, was part of the recently-lost Pleistocene megafauna which disappeared from this continent around 11,000 years ago. It is omnivorous and the size of a black bear.Three visions of the short-faced bear: Arctodus as a predator, a scavenger, and an herbivore. The only living relative of the short-faced bears is the spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus) of South America. It may have died out due to competition with a large Pleistocene subspecies of black bear (Ursus americanus amplidens) and due to brown/grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) invading from the west near the end of the Ice Age. This smaller bear with its longer face and smaller teeth may have been more omnivorous.
Their disappearance is linked to changes in habitat that led to the disappearance of some of these large herbivores at the end of the Ice Age.Ī close relative, the lesser short-faced bear (Arctodus pristinus) lived near the Atlantic coast and in Mexico. They probably scavenged and preyed upon large herbivores such as bison, muskoxen, deer, caribou, horses, and ground sloths. Giant short-faced bears lived in Minnesota and the open country west of the Mississippi River and north to Yukon and Alaska. Everything considered, paleobiologists conclude that the giant short-faced bear ate only meat. Tests of bone samples show a very high ratio of nitrogen-15 to nitrogen-14, a nitrogen “signature” that indicates a true carnivore.
SHORT FACED BEAR PLUS
The large width of the jaws in relation to their shortness, plus the huge insertions for biting muscles, gave this bear a vise-like killing bite and the ability to crush bones to obtain marrow. Its short, broad snout had a huge nasal passage, which probably means it had a keen sense of smell and could inhale great volumes of oxygen while pursuing prey. Its eye sockets are set wide apart and face forward, giving it excellent vision. Its skull and shearing type of teeth indicate a highly carnivorous way of life. It probably could run over 40 miles per hour despite weighing over 1500 pounds. Unlike pigeon-toed modern bears, its toes pointed straight forward, enabling it to walk with a fast, purposeful gait.
Rangier and longer legged than any bear today, it was about five feet at the shoulders when walking and stood as tall as 12 feet on its hind legs. Also called the bulldog bear, the giant short-faced bear (Arctodus simus) was undoubtedly the fastest running bear that ever lived.
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