Prehistoric Cave Bears Weren't So Cuddly After All

Prehistoric Cave Bears Weren't So Cuddly After All

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Animals accumulate nitrogen-15 in their bodies, and animals that eat animals — that is, carnivores — build up more nitrogen-15 than herbivores do.

Still, black bears and brown bears are omnivores. This suggested that although some cave bears were largely vegetarian, others might have been more carnivorous.

New data from the Pestera cu Oase ("Cave with Bones") in the southwestern tip of the Carpathian mountains in Romania now hints most of its cave bears were significantly carnivorous, due to their high nitrogen-15 levels.

Hidden caves

Retrieving the bones was not easy.

"It is a pretty inaccessible cave that you need to go underwater to get to," said researcher

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Cave bears (considerably larger than modern grizzleys) died out in Europe 20,000 years ago. For 30 years they were thought to be ominvours or even more herbavours in fact some bone nitrogen studies supported this. However the bones in this well protected cave say otherwise. These bears were in fact significantly carnivorous judging by their nitrogen 15 levels.

From the point of view of an Alaskan bear observer it is heard to imagine a bear that did not take advantage of a meat diet if it was available! Bears up here eat berries, leaves and roots when they can't catch anything live.

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I remember on a documentary parts of a human skeleton were found in a cave bear's... er... Cave. I wonder just how much they may have fed on early humans.

Here is the reason why bears are sometimes pictuered as cute and cudly.

The name Teddy Bear comes from one of President Theodore Roosevelt's hunting trips to Mississippi. There were several other hunters competing, and most of them had already shot something. A suite of attendants of Roosevelt who were hunting with hounds treed an American Black Bear after a long and exhausting chase and suggested Roosevelt shoot it. He refused to shoot it himself, deeming this un-sportsmanlike,[1] but instructed that the treed bear be killed to put it out of its misery,[citation needed] and it became the topic of a political cartoon in The Washington Post on November 16, 1902.[2] A Brooklyn store owner, Morris Michtom, saw the drawing of Roosevelt and the bear cub and was inspired to create a new toy. He created a little stuffed bear cub and put it in his shop window with a sign that read "Teddy's bear." The toys were an immediate success and Michtom founded the Ideal Novelty and Toy Co., which still exists today.[1]

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reply to post by RedGolem

Here is the reason why bears are sometimes pictuered as cute and cudly.

Hi Red,
I think most of us had forgotten the Teddy Rosevelt story, way to go!

Our Alaska (Anchorage) Zoo did their best to make bears look like cuddly pets a few years ago with a black bear and a polar bear cub raised together. The car dealers, dignataries and polititians would be shown playing in the pen with them, hugging them, etc. One black, one white, soooooo cute!

The short faced bear sounds scary as hell.

Originally posted by plumranch

I think most of us had forgotten the Teddy Rosevelt story, way to go!

Plumranch
Thanks a bunch!
I know the zoos and animal parks need to make all the animals look cute and cuddly. I just also think they are being pretty deceptive when it comes to the predators like that.

Forgot to mention that in one 3 day bear watching trip I counted 16 grizzleys (500 lb and larger) eating nothing but a vegetarian diet- blueberries! They can't resist when the berries are big, ripe and plentiful!