Description
Massive fossil cave bear skull of the species Ursus spelaeus. It is in excellent natural condition.
The skull comes from a cave in Austria where cave bear remains were excavated in the 1970s.
The skull is 60.8 cm long.
The lower jaw and upper skull come from the same animal.
The cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) is considered a relative of the modern brown bear, but was significantly larger and, in its own way, probably more impressive.
Standing upright, these gigantic animals could reach over 3 meters in height and weigh about half a ton as adults.
They lived in Europe during the height of the last Ice Age and used alpine caves as shelter to escape the worst of the winter weather during hibernation.
Unlike modern bears, Ursus spelaeus likely spent an excessive amount of time in its caves. In fact, it is not uncommon to find several generations of cave bears in the same cave deposits, as was the case, for example, in the caves of Europe.
Despite their size and imposing appearance, they likely fed primarily on plants.
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