Ursus Ingressus

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Ursus ingressus.






Order: Carnivora



Family: Ursidae



Dimensions: length - 2,3 m, height - 125 сm, weight - 200-800 kg



Temporal range: Pleistocene of Europe







"Whereas U. spelaeus inhabited mainly low and medium elevation areas, U. ingressus has mostly been found in medium and high elevated regions (Baryshnikov and Puzachenko, 2011). Recent isotopic analyses showed also some dietary differentiation between these cave bear haplogroups (Bocherens et al., 2011; Dotsika et al., 2011). Ursus ingressus was likely better adapted to continental environments and, thus, might have outperformed U. spelaeus during cold and arid climate conditions (Baryshnikov and Puzachenko, 2011). "



The vast majority of fossil remains in Late Pleistocene deposits from Niedźwiedzia Cave in Kletno, Sudetes, Poland, belong to the cave bear. Phylogenetic analyses based on a fragment of the mitochondrial D-loop region extracted from two cave bear samples unambiguously showed their close relationship with the Ursus ingressus haplogroup. This taxonomic affiliation of the cave bear remains from Niedźwiedzia Cave was further confirmed by biometrical analyses of molar teeth and skulls. Our results represent the first record of U. ingressus north of the Carpathian Arch, while radiocarbon dating (> 49,000 yr BP) of the samples indicates that they represent some of the oldest specimens of this cave bear taxon known so far. Multi-method phylogenetic analyses including numerous publicly available cave bear sequences allowed analysing the relationships among these samples in details, including the significance of particular clades, and discussing some aspects of cave bear phylogeography. The sequences of U. ingressus from Poland are most closely related to specimens from the Ural Mountains and next to Slovenia, which may indicate migrations between Central and Eastern European populations. The internal placement of Ural



Palaeoclimatic information from isotopic signatures of Late Pleistocene Ursus ingressus bone and teeth apatite (Loutra Arideas Cave, Macedonia, Greece).











Article: Genetic analysis of cave bear specimens from Niedźwiedzia cave, sudetes, Poland

M. Baca · A. Stankovic · K. Stefaniak · A. Marciszak · M. Hofreiter · A. Nadachowski · P. Wegleński · P. Mackiewicz

prehistoric-fauna.com/Ursus-ingressus

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Credited to Tonatiuh from Carnivora.

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A New Mass Burial of Cave Bears (Carnivora, Ursidae, Ursus kanivetz, Vereshchagin, 1973) from the Middle Urals

link.springer.com/article/10.1134/S0012496621030017

Abstract:
Remains of a cave bear were studied from a new locality in the Prokoshev Cave in the Middle Urals (58°13´ N, 58°12´ E). Bones from all regions of the skeleton are present, bones are intact and without traces of human or animal activity. They all belong to the cave bear (Ursus kanivetz Vereshchagin, 1973). An AMS radiocarbon date of 53 375 ± 765 BP, IGANAMS–8632, was obtained from an adult mandible. The bones belonged to at least 18 individuals, including 4 individuals aged about one year, 1 aged about two years, 1 aged about three years, and 12 individuals over four years of age. Three skulls belonged to males and seven skulls belonged to females. The analysis has shown that the taphonomic type of this locality is a “mass burial.” This is the first “mass burial” of the cave bear in the Urals, found in situ, untouched by humans.

Mass assemblages of carnivores not associated with human activity (the “mass burial” taphonomic type) are rare in the Late Pleistocene. Known examples include such assemblages of cave lions (Panthera leo spelaea Goldfuss, 1810), wolves, the small cave bear (U. savini Andrews, 1922) and the brown bear (U. arctos L., 1758). The most common localities of this type are cave assemblages of the greater cave bear (Ursus spelaeus sensu lato) formed as a result of death during hibernation. Studies of such localities yield unique information on the ecology and biology of these species.

Several caves with large numbers of cave bear bones are known from the Urals. None of the taphocenoses in all of these caves remained intact; all of them had been altered by human activity prior to the study. The Prokoshev Cave, dealt with in this article, is a new cave bear “mass burial.” It is unique in preserving the assemblage in situ, because it had not been visited by humans prior to its discovery. The site thus offers an opportunity to study an undisturbed cave bear “mass burial.” The cave was named after N.A. Prokoshev, an archaeologist who studied caves along the Chusovaya River in the 1930s and died during the Second World War.

Prokoshev Cave is located in the Chusovaya River basin, Middle Urals (58°13´ N, 58°12´ E). It is karstic in origin and has a mixed structure: a 100-m corridor ends in a cliff 8 m in depth and then passes into a large chamber with branches. The floor of the chamber is covered with limestone blocks and boulders with spaces between them filled with viscous brown loam. The “mass burial” is located in the large chamber. Bear bones lie on the surface of the floor and are partly or completely submerged in the loam. The bones are rather evenly distributed on the surface of the floor. No bones are anatomically connected. Chamber floor contains no traces of human stay.

The bones were collected from the cave floor, without extracting them from the loam. Sixty-four cave bear bones were collected (IPAE UD RAS, no. 2726): 13 skulls, 3 mandibles, 9 isolated teeth, 2 vertebrae, 5 ribs, 1 scapula, 4 pelvic bones, 3 humeri, 2 radii, 6 ulnae, 3 femora, 5 tibiae, 3 tarsals, 3 metapodials, and 2 phalanges. All the bones were intact, although several of the skulls and postcranial bones had some damage from water condensation. Bones had no bite or cut marks.
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