🎨 RestorationRestoration: James St. John · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Life restorations are artistic reconstructions based on fossil evidence; true coloration and soft-tissue details remain uncertain.
Ursus
Ursus spelaeus (Ursus · ホラアナグマ)
Known only from fossils. The IUCN Red List assesses only species extant since 1500 CE, so fossil taxa are not assigned a category.
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its estimated weight of 500 kg is similar to the combined weight of seven adults of around 70 kg each (Comparison).
- 💡 Its upright height of 3.5 m is more than twice the height of an adult human of around 1.7 m (Comparison).
- 💡 The prehistoric museum 'Cité de la Préhistoire' at Orgnac in Ardèche, France displays a cave bear skull from Ardèche in its Middle Paleolithic gallery.
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
Ursus spelaeus (cave bear) was a large bear that appeared about 120,000 years ago and began to disappear around the Last Glacial Maximum about twenty-four thousand years ago. In Western Europe, it lived from 120,000 to twenty-two thousand years ago.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Large males reached 500 kg in weight and stood up to 3.5 m tall when upright. Because many bones remain in caves, its anatomy is known in detail.
🔍 3. Fossil Record & Paleoecology
It is described as a predominantly herbivorous bear that fed mainly on plants. It lived in temperate and cold climates and hibernated in caves.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • Fossil taxon — the IUCN Red List assesses only species living or extinct since 1500
- • paleobiodb.org — basicTaxonInfo
- • wikidata.org — Q188851
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Cave bear AMNH.jpg
- • orgnac.com — prehistoric-treasures
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Margot Michaud · CC0 1.0
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.