Standing 11 feet tall and weighing up to 2,200 pounds, the Ice Age cave bear, or Ursus spelaeus, must have struck fear into the hearts of early humans.
But the bear probably wouldn’t have killed — at least not to eat. Scientists think that these prehistoric animals were primarily herbivores and munched on plants, not people.
During the Late Pleistocene era, these bears lived across Europe. Tens of thousands of their fossils have been found in caves across the continent, suggesting that they spent more time in caves than modern-day bears (who often use caves solely for hibernation).
They did, however, seem to venture out enough to cross paths with people. Scientists aren’t sure exactly how early humans interacted with the bears, but they have come across some puzzling clues.
In Drachenloch, Switzerland, for example, researchers found seven cave bear skulls seemingly arranged to face the front of the caves, and six more skulls stuck into cave alcoves.
That head-scratching discovery, however, pales in comparison to the nearly intact cave bear found by reindeer hunters in 2020.
The hunters came across the bear in the melting permafrost of Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island in Siberia. Likely between 39,500 and 22,000 years old, the frozen tundra kept it in remarkably good shape. The cold preserved even its internal organs.
So, what happened to these Ice Age cave bears? Although their cousins walk the earth today, Ursus spelaeus slowly went extinct starting around 24,000 years ago.
It’s unclear what exactly did them in. Scientists have noticed high rates of disease in cave bear fossils, which could have been a contributing factor. However, changing climate could also have contributed to the extinction of the Ice Age bears.
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