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Description

During the twilight hours of crisp Spring morning, a mother Cave Bear and her cub search for food in the shadow of massive stone mountains. Frost covered foliage collapse under the female's immense weight as each foot step makes a heavy crunching noise. Her head low to the ground as she tries to sniff out the food that will hopefully help sustain her and her child after a long winter of hibernation. The young cub follows behind her, cutting a meandering path of distraction and play through the large footprints left by their mother.

Momentarily distracted by her progeny when she lets out a bellowing roar as pain surges from the spot where a stone spear head has been imbedded into her back, moving between her attackers and her child she turns to face the some of the deadliest predators to ever walk the earth, Homo neanderthalensis.

Ursus spelaeus, also known as a Cave Bear, was one of the largest bear species alive during the Pleistocene, they ranged from Europe into Asia. Analysis of their teeth and bones suggest that they had a mostly herbivorous diet.

Their remains were first described in 1774 by Johann Friedrich Esper, a German paleontologist and pastor, though humans and their relatives encountered these animals first hand much much earlier. There is evidence that Neanderthals would not only hunt Cave Bears but also that they would also utilize the large caves the bears used as their dens as shelter after they killed the former occupants. While there was some early speculation as to whether they worshipped the bears and utilized their remains in religious ceremonies, this theory has been largely debunked.

After modern humans arrived in Europe they recorded their encounters with bears and other Ice Age animals in cave paintings like those found in France's Chauvet Cave.

Cave Bears lived from around 250,000 to 24,000 years ago, likely going extinct due to food becoming scarce as the climate warmed. Male specimens have been estimated to reach upwards of 2,200 pounds with females weighing in at around 550 lbs.

Recently, in Russia, a two new preserved specimens of what might be cave bears have emerged from the ice, one might possibly be the first preserved adult Cave Bear ever found, the other is a young cub found at a different site, researchers are hopeful to get DNA from both sets of remains but it is too early to tell if they are indeed U. spelaeus or another species of Ice Age bear.

Description

During the twilight hours of crisp Spring morning, a mother Cave Bear and her cub search for food in the shadow of massive stone mountains. Frost covered foliage collapse under the female's immense weight as each foot step makes a heavy crunching noise. Her head low to the ground as she tries to sniff out the food that will hopefully help sustain her and her child after a long winter of hibernation. The young cub follows behind her, cutting a meandering path of distraction and play through the large footprints left by their mother.

Momentarily distracted by her progeny when she lets out a bellowing roar as pain surges from the spot where a stone spear head has been imbedded into her back, moving between her attackers and her child she turns to face the some of the deadliest predators to ever walk the earth, Homo neanderthalensis.

Ursus spelaeus, also known as a Cave Bear, was one of the largest bear species alive during the Pleistocene, they ranged from Europe into Asia. Analysis of their teeth and bones suggest that they had a mostly herbivorous diet.

Their remains were first described in 1774 by Johann Friedrich Esper, a German paleontologist and pastor, though humans and their relatives encountered these animals first hand much much earlier. There is evidence that Neanderthals would not only hunt Cave Bears but also that they would also utilize the large caves the bears used as their dens as shelter after they killed the former occupants. While there was some early speculation as to whether they worshipped the bears and utilized their remains in religious ceremonies, this theory has been largely debunked.

After modern humans arrived in Europe they recorded their encounters with bears and other Ice Age animals in cave paintings like those found in France's Chauvet Cave.

Cave Bears lived from around 250,000 to 24,000 years ago, likely going extinct due to food becoming scarce as the climate warmed. Male specimens have been estimated to reach upwards of 2,200 pounds with females weighing in at around 550 lbs.

Recently, in Russia, a two new preserved specimens of what might be cave bears have emerged from the ice, one might possibly be the first preserved adult Cave Bear ever found, the other is a young cub found at a different site, researchers are hopeful to get DNA from both sets of remains but it is too early to tell if they are indeed U. spelaeus or another species of Ice Age bear.