Prehistoric bears also ate everything and anything
Thursday, April 9, 2009 - 09:07
in Paleontology & Archaeology
By comparing the craniodental morphology of modern bear species to that of two extinct species, researchers from the University of Málaga, Spain, have discovered that the expired plantigrades were not so different from their current counterparts. The cave bear, regarded as the great herbivore of the carnivores, was actually more omnivorous than first thought. The short-faced bear, a hypercarnivore, also ate plants depending on their availability. The work offers key insights into the evolution of the carnivore niches during the Ice Age.