Arctodus - The Short Faced Bear
Arctodus was a genus of large bears that lived in North America during the Pleistocene. One of the species is called Arctodus simus Yukonenis and it was the largest of all bears to ever live upon this planet. When Arctodus simus stood upright, it was 11 feet tall. This bear was a terrifying predator. It was capable of bringing down large prey, such as bison. Other carnivores, such as lions and saber toothed cats would have been very hesitant to pick a fight with Arctodus primus. This species ranged all the way from the Yukon to Mexico. It very likely did some scavenging in addition to hunting. Another species of the genus was Arctodus pristinus. It lived in the eastern woodlands of North America. This species was not quite as large as its cousin, A. simus, but was a very formidable hunter.
Bears of the genus Arctodus had short broad muzzles. This is what has given them the name short faced bears. Their bite was extremely powerful.
Arctodus died out about 12,000 years ago. Scientists have cited several factors which may have led to its extinction:
larger prey dying out, thus decreasing the food supply
competition from smaller but more numerous brown bears that migrated into North America from Eurasia
being hunted by humans
It is likely that a combination of these factors caused Arctodus to become extinct.
Neal Robbins
P.S. Arctodus was of the now extinct subfamily of bears called Tremarctinae. Tremarctine bears apparently originated on the North American continent. The earliest known Tremarctine bear was Plionarctus. It lived in Texas during the Pliocene (7-2 million years ago).
P.P.S. The taxonomy of Arctodus is:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Ursidae
Subfamily: Tremarctinae
Genus: Arctodus
The Species are:
Arctodus simus Yukonensis
A. pristinus
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