Short-Faced Bear - Creature Feature #1

Blue Rhino Studio posing with their Short-Faced Bear statue.

Classification:

• Kingdom:
• Animalia
• Phylum
• Chordata
• Class
• Mammalia
• Order
• Carnivora
• Family
• Ursidae
• Genus
• Arctodus
• Species
• Arctodus pristinus (Lesser Short-Faced)
• Arctodus simus (Giant Short-Faced, this article)

Era & Age:

• Pleistocene Epoch
• 1.8 million - 11,000 years ago

Taxonomy:

The now extinct Giant Short-Faced Bear, or Arctodus simus, was one of the largest terrestrial mammal carnivores/omnivores discovered so far.  The genus name comes from Greek and it means "bear tooth."  The species name, simus, means "snub-nosed."  The name comes from the fact that this bear's snout seems to be much shorter, proportionally, compared to other bears.  This is an illusion, though, caused by their deep snouts and short nasal regions.  

This bear became widespread throughout North America starting about 800,000 years ago, during the Pleistocene, and was very common in California.  The group of bears that simus was part of would eventually evolve into the extinct genus, Arctotherium, and the modern spectacled bear.

Its weight varied from 1,000-2,000 pounds (compared to a modern grizzly bear which weighs about 600 pounds), depending on size, and could stand 11-12 feet tall, with a 14 foot vertical arm reach.  When walking on all fours, the bear would've been about 5-6 feet tall.  At Riverbluff Cave in Missourri, claw marks have been found from this bear at a height of 15 feet, implying an individual that stood at about 12 feet tall.  

It's height was mostly in its legs, as its body was fairly short, proportionally speaking.  Its toes faced forward as opposed to inward.

Diet:

Many scientists disagree about simus's diet, but the most commonly accepted idea today is that it would've been an opportunistic omnivore, like modern brown bears.  Its body, though built to run at about 40 miles per hour, was not necessarily built for quick turning/agility nor was it built for active, brutish attacks.  It most likely was, as mentioned, a kleptoparasite, which means that it used its size to intimidate smaller predators and then eat their kills, while filling up on vegetation when available.  This omnivorous trait is shared with many modern bears.  If considering simply a carnivorous diet, this bear would have to eat about 35 pounds of meat a day in order to survive.  That's some serious eating.

Habitat:

Though this bear lived throughout much of the world and in various environments, it would seem that caves were a popular denning spots, especially during pregnancy.

The Blue Rhino Studio statue

 

Size comparisons

Another Blue Rhino statue.  The size of this bear is staggering.  I've seen this statue myself at La Brea Tar Pits and it is nearly taller than my house.

Final Thoughts:

I just recently learned about this animal's existence, so there's still a lot more about it that I have to discover.  I'm stunned by its size, however.  I always knew bears were big, but I never thought they could get this big.  I'd love to learn more about human/short-faced bear interaction in the future, so if I learn anything significant, I'll be sure to update this article in an "update" section.

This giant bear is truly a terrifying thing to consider seeing in real life.  Any predatory animal that can stand as tall as me, then twice as tall as me when standing on its hind legs, absolutely deserves the title of "terrifyingly beautiful and majestic."  Formidable.  Awe-inspiring.  Raw nature.   A sight to behold.

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I'm still trying to figure out the format for these Creature Feature posts, so I may return back to this post every now and then to update it as I figure out what I want to write about each animal.  Thanks as always for reading, and let me know what you think about these Creature Features.  I appreciate it.



Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short-faced_bear
2. https://www.rhinocentral.com/
3. https://www.wideopenspaces.com/7-facts-extinct-giant-bear/
4. http://iceage.museum.state.il.us/mammals/short-faced-bear-0

  

~ Danny (DarylOnABarrel)