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The steppe brown bear (Ursus arctos priscus) is a disputed extinct subspecies of brown bear that lived in Eurasia during either the Pleistocene or the early Holoceneepochs, but its geological age is uncertain.[1] Fossils of the bear have been found in various caves in Slovakia, particularly those of Vazec, Vyvieranie, Lisková, Kupcovie Izbicka, and Okno.[2] It is argued that the subspecies should be rendered invalid, as its geological age is unclear and "its skull is identical to modern U. arctos."[3][1]
Description
Adult males in average would have weighed 700–800 kg (1,500–1,800 lb), with the largest individuals weighing up to 1,000 kg (2,200 lb).[4] It was more carnivorous than a modern brown bear, consuming 50 kg (110 lb) of meat per day.[4]
References
^ abVillalba de Alvarado, M., Collado Giraldo, H., Arsuaga, J. L., Bello Rodrigo, J. R., Heteren, A. H., & Gómez‐Olivencia, A. (2021). Looking for the earliest evidence of Ursus arctos LINNAEUS, 1758 in the Iberian Peninsula: the Middle Pleistocene site of Postes cave. Boreas, 51(1), 159–184. https://doi.org/10.1111/bor.12537
^Pacher, M. (2007). The type specimen of Ursus priscus Goldfuss, 1810 and the uncertain status of Late Pleistocene brown bears. Neues Jahrbuch f€ur Geologie und Pal€aontologie, Abhandlungen 245, 331–339.
^ abMarciszak, A., Schouwenburg, C., Lipecki, G., Talamo, S., Shpansky, A., Malikov, D., & Gornig, W. (2019). Steppe brown bear Ursus arctos “priscus” from the Late Pleistocene of Europe. Quaternary International, 534, 158–170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2019.02.042