Prehistoric Bears Ate Everything And Anything, Just Like Modern Cousins
Sunday, April 12, 2009 - 22:35
in Paleontology & Archaeology
By comparing the craniodental morphology of modern bear species to that of two extinct species, researchers 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.