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Post by Gorilla king on Jul 16, 2021 9:59:28 GMT -5
The Atlas Bear is the only known bear in the Ursinae line known to be native to Africa. An officer from the English military named Crowther first brought the Atlas Bear to the public's attention by his investigations in 1840, which is when the scientific community really recognized its existence. The Atlas Bear was classified as subspecies Ursus arctos crowtheri by Swiss naturalist Heinrich Rudolf Schinz in 1844. It is sometimes listed as its own species Ursus crowtheri.
HABITAT
Though the Atlas bear mainly inhabited the Atlas Mountains and surrounding areas of Morocco, Algeria, and Libya, fossilized remains of the Atlas bear have been discovered in caverns throughout North Africa. It lived in the mountains and forests.
CHARACTERISTICS
The Atlas bear had shaggy blackish brown hair, a black muzzle, an orange rufous chest and belly, and sometimes a white spot on the throat. Its fur was 4 to 5 inches long. Its build was reported by Officer Crowther as being shorter than that of an American black bear, with a more blunt face and unusually short, although thick claws.
DIET
The Atlas Bear is believed to have fed at least partially on roots, acorns and nuts.
EXTINCTION
Following the expansion of the Roman Empire in Northern Africa, thousands of bears were hunted for sport, used for execution of criminals, and killed during venatio games. The Atlas Bear is believed to have become extinct in the 1870s.
www.bearsoftheworld.net/atlas_bear.asp
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Post by Gorilla king on Jul 16, 2021 23:23:17 GMT -5
Ursus arctos crowtheri
a.k.a. Atlas bear, Atlas brown bear
Name: Ursus arctos crowtheri.
Phonetic: Ur-sus ark-tos krow-fe-ree.
Named By: Heinrich Rudolf Schinz - 1844.
Classification: Chordata, Mammalia, Carnivora, Ursidae.
Species: U. arctos crowtheri.
Diet: Herbivore/omnivore?
Size: No larger than a black bear, which are known to range from 120-200 centimetres long, 10-105 centimetres high at the shoulder.
Known locations: The Atlas Mountains of north Africa. Especially well known from Morocco.
Time period: Holocene, possibly going extinct at some point in the late nineteenth century.
Fossil representation: Numerous fossils. Records exist of living bears.
The Atlas bear (Ursus arctos crowtheri) is today considered to be an extinct sub species of the brown bear (Ursus arctos); although some researchers think that it should be treated as a distinct species in its own right. The Atlas bear seems to have been the last of the African bears (Agriotherium and Indarctos lived much earlier), and the only one so far known to have been naturally exclusive to the African continent. Though a relative of the huge brown bear, the Atlas bear is actually noted as being smaller than the black bear (Ursus americanus). The coat of long ten to twelve centimetre long hair was a dark brown almost black on top, but red-orange underneath. Both snout and claws are reported as being proportionately shorter than the black bear. The Atlas bear seems to have been mostly herbivorous with reports suggesting it fed upon the more nutritious parts of plants such as roots, nuts and even acorns. However as a group bears are noted as being omnivorous, and while many have a predilection towards one kind of food over another, Atlas bears would have likely been biologically capable of eating meat as well.
As with far too many animals the Atlas bear seems to have gone extinct entirely from human contact, especially from such activities as trapping and hunting. The atlas bear was known to the Romans, who according to historical reports, captured large numbers of these bears to fight in gladiatorial arenas, either against professional hunters, or pitted against criminals that were punished by being thrown to wild animals. Some Roman mosaics also depict creatures which may well represent Atlas bears. In 1830 the king of Morocco had at least one Atlas bear living in captivity and also that year supplied a bear to the Zoological garden of Marseille which then became the holotype of the species. The last Atlas bear to be killed by hunters is often reported to have been killed in 1870 in the Tetuan Mountains. Today the Atlas bear is officially recorded as being extinct, probably disappearing in the late nineteenth century.
Despite this however, sightings of bear-like animals are sometimes reported in regions where the Atlas bear used to live, with some speculating that it maybe the mythical ‘Nandi bear’. Unfortunately however, no bodies or other evidence (hair, scat, dens, etc.) of still living bears have so far been found. Assuming that the sightings are genuine, then it’s possible that they could simply be cases of mistaken identity.
www.prehistoric-wildlife.com/species/u/ursus-arctos-crowtheri-atlas-bear.html
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Post by Gorilla king on Jul 16, 2021 23:26:35 GMT -5
Friday, July 9, 2010
The Mystery of the Atlas Bear
In the region of northwestern Africa known as the Maghreb, north of the Sahara Desert and high up in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, there are hidden an array of superb natural treasures with very unique and surprising history...
The climate of the Maghreb is varied but more or less parallels the natural conditions found on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea – a stark, rocky, and arid wilderness of high, dry plains, open, mixed woodlands, and alpine expanses. Remarkably, at the narrowest point in the Strait of Gibraltar, North Africa is separated from Spain by only 7.7 nautical miles of seawater (14.24 km). And thus, to no marginal extent –and perhaps expectedly- North Africa’s biological composition is characterized by an exceptional mixture of both African and European floras and faunas.
These mountains were once the haunt of the regal Barbary Lion (Panthera leo leo), a great cat of superlative splendor, which disappeared from the continent sometime during the course of the early to mid 20th century. A smaller pantherine counterpart of this region –the secretive Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera) - managed to cling precariously to existence for some decades longer than the lion, and has itself disappeared perhaps only within this last ten years or so. There is still some hope that these incredible cats lurk like ghosts in the far reaches of the mountains, but they have not been seen or otherwise detected for a number of years. Many naturalists have concluded that the Atlas Mountains are now absent of leopards and lions.1
There was another animal in these mountains -seemingly out of place for its kind- which disappeared from northern African probably about one century before the lion and the leopard. The creature was unusual for several reasons, the first reason was that it was a bear –the only native kind naturally present on the vast African continent within recent history, and the second, that it may have in fact been a distinct species apart from the ones we are now familiar with.
To this day, not much is known about the Atlas Bear, as it is rumored that the very last among them were hunted to extinction sometime during the course of the late 19th century. No skeletal remains or pelts were ever preserved for study while the living animals were apparently kept by European zoos, and most of what is known about its physical appearance and morphology is derived from scant observations recorded by French scientists in the early 1800s (though, as later discussed, Brown Bear subfossils have been found at various sites in North Africa in recent decades). Its Latin name –though sometimes disputed- is Ursus arctos crowtheri, owing to the reasonable presumption that it was a race of Brown Bear, Ursus arctos.
Just how modern bears ended up in Africa is a riddle in itself. It is known that primitive bears, such as the large predatory Agriotherium, were present in the African ecosystems during the Pliocene–Pleistocene epochs ~6-2.5 million years ago, evidently of Eurasian origin.2 Yet Agriotherium belonged to a branch of bear evolution quite apart from modern bears, which are comprised of about 3-4 recognized genera: Helarctos, Tremarctos, Ursus, and sometimes Melursus respectively.
Since the Atlas Bear was certainly a species of the genus Ursus, the question of its origin must be traced back to a time within the last 5 million years or so and probably more realistically during the course of the late Pleistocene, when Ursus arctos (its suspected forerunner) radiated into it’s many impressive forms and gave rise to Ursus maritimus (the Polar Bear).
Because there is very little doubt about the closeness in relation between the Brown Bear and the Atlas Bear (regardless of whether or not they are different species), and because the genus Ursus most certainly arrived in northern Africa sometime during the late Pleistocene, it can be fairly concluded that the Atlas Bear’s ancestors arrived from either one of two –or a combination of both- major geographical regions: 1) by way of a southward expansion from Mediterranean Europe or 2) by way of a westward expansion from the Levant and the greater part of the Middle East (what is now present-day Israel). Today, the nearest population of living Brown Bears within proximity to the former range of the Atlas Bear lies in the Pyrenees Mountains of northern Spain.3 East, in Syria and Lebanon (the other probable geographical source of African bears), there is a very unique and special race of Brown Bear known as the Syrian Brown Bear (Ursus arctos syriacus) that also inhabit certain regions of the former Soviet Union.
With all that being said however, and in light of North Africa’s rather significant proximity to the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, it is tempting and perhaps more reasonable to assume that the Atlas Bear had its immediate origins in Europe. It is also tempting to believe that sea levels dropped and regularly exposed land-bridges between Europe and Africa at the Strait of Gibraltar during the successive ice ages –essentially creating a walk in the park for the transcontinental migrations of large terrestrial mammals. But is it a safe assumption -strictly from a geological point of view?
The Mediterranean Sea, notwithstanding Atlas Bears, is a scientific enigma in itself, and while the Strait of Gibraltar is narrow, it substantially deep enough to have never been a land bridge during the recent ice ages. It is otherwise believed that North Africa and Europe haven’t been connected for at least 5 million years.
Yet there is another quite obvious possibility to explain the origins of the Atlas Bear regardless of land bridges or dried up seas...
Within the Atlas Mountains and the greater part of the Maghreb there live a considerable number of other terrestrial mammals that are more characteristically Eurasian (not to mention the great abundance of Ibero-North African flora). The first is the Red Deer (Cervus elaphus barbarus) –Africa’s only native deer- followed by the Wild Boar (Sus scrofa algira), the Mouflon (Ovis aires orientalis or sometimes Ovis orientalis), the now extinct North African Aurochs (Bos primigenius mauretanicus), the Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes), the Wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica), the Least Weasel (Mustela nivalis), and the European River Otter (Lutra lutra). Most of these animals, though they are distinct from their counterparts in Europe and Asia, doubtless were descended from migrants of Europe or the Middle East during the Pleistocene or recent Holocene epochs. Correspondingly, there are also a number of terrestrial mammals present on the Iberian Peninsula which are more characteristically Maghrebi, such as the Algerian Hedgehog (Atelerix algiris), the Common Genet (Genetta genetta), and the Egyptian Mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon). It is also worth mentioning that the Barbary Macaque (Macaca sylvanus), native to North Africa and the Atlas Mountains, is also native to the Rock of Gibraltar on the southernmost tip of Spain –it is the only European monkey alive today.
So, how might all of these animals have arrived to North Africa if not by land? By sea of course! It is completely within the realm of possibility that such populations of animals were established (or genetically augmented) by a successive colonization of dispersing individuals who swam across the strait’s 7.7 miles of seawater. This is especially not hard to believe when considering the aquatic versatility of Brown Bears in other parts of the world. Some insular Brown Bears, such as those once found in Britain, Ireland, and Japan, most certainly populated those landmasses when they were connected to the continent by way of exposed land bridges during the Ice Ages.
In any case, bears –and a score of other more characteristically Eurasian animals- ended up in North Africa, whether by land bridges in the Ice Age, dried up seas, the comparatively simpler route of migration from the Levant to North Africa, human introduction, or swimming. But what can be said about the bear itself besides its mysterious origin? Was it truly a Brown Bear? Or was it another species in its own right? And if it was, could its origin still be traced back to Pleistocene Europe? Pleistocene Europe, while home to Ursus arctos, was also home to the famous Cave Bear (Ursus speleaus) as well as the Etruscan Bear (Ursus etruscus), which is thought to be the ancestor of all bears classified within the genus Ursus and which persisted amongst its evolutionary descendants up until 11,000 years ago.4
Recent studies have indicated that there was a surprising size range in Maghrebi Bears. However, it is generally accepted that they were relatively small -being roughly the size of the American Black Bear. The Atlas Bear was certainly not descended from the Cave Bear therefore, but more likely from the Brown Bear, the Etruscan Bear, or an intermediate form. The two subspecies of Brown Bears that have been uncovered from Pleistocene fossil deposits of northern Africa have been named and identified as Ursus arctos faidherbi and Ursus arctos larteti. The recent presence of these bears in African ecosystems seems to strongly indicate that the Atlas Bear was, in all likelihood, descended from Ursus arctos after all, but other clues as to its true origin can be further derived from methods of modern science.
Recent genetic studies which have traced the mitochondrial DNA of Atlas Bear specimens have revealed quite a lot of interesting information, both in regards to the proper classification of the bear as well as its likely ancestry and geographical origin. Yet the implications of some of these finds are just as inconclusive and mysterious as ever, perhaps invoking more questions than answers.
To begin with, modern Brown Bears are divided into five mitochondrial lineages or clades, which are listed in the box below. These lineages correlate fairly consistently with the geographical distributions of all of the major subspecies of extant Brown Bears now recognized in the modern world.
Interestingly, these studies have concluded that the Brown Bears of the Maghreb were not a genetically homogeneous population and that there were at least two mitochondrial lineages of Brown Bears coexisting in North Africa up until the beginning of the first millennia AD. “…two of the most recent Brown Bear remains ever found in Africa (those found in the Akouker Cave in Algeria, dating to ~326 AD and ~456 AD respectively), shows the presence of the already recognized Clade V haplotype on the continent” (Calvignac, 1967), further suggesting that –however possible- there was indeed a genetic flow into Africa from Europe by way of the Strait of Gibraltar (the Akouker bears revealed mitochondrial sequences almost identical to that of the living Iberian bears of Cantabria). Yet, the specimens which were collected from the Takouatz Cave of Algeria and the El Ksiba Cave of Morocco (3 samples dating ~5,339-7,614 BC from Takouatz and one sample dating ~726 AD from El Ksiba) revealed a very different composition, and appeared to be of a strongly divergent lineage previously unrecognized among the Brown Bear clades. All five mitochondrial lineages of extant Brown Bears can be classified into one large haplogroup, but this sixth clade appears to be different enough to be categorized as an ancient offshoot –a basal clade whose origins were either developed uniquely in Africa or simply lost everywhere but North Africa due to lineage sorting during the late Pleistocene.
Perhaps what is most remarkable about the revelation of Clade VI apart from the fact that it is now extinct is that its degree of genetic deviation –evidently ancient- is substantial enough to perpetuate the debate of the proper classification for Maghrebi Brown Bears. “It’s divergence from all other living Brown Bears is striking: at the maximum 11.3% for the mtCR sequences and 5.9% for the cyt b ones, values which are to compare to the minimum values of divergence between the Brown Bear and its now-extinct sister species (the Cave Bear), respectively, 9% for the mtCR and 5.7% for the cyt b sequences” (Calvignac, 1968).
Thus, it may be fairly surmised that with at least two very different Brown Bear populations living contemporaneously in North Africa up until the early part of the first millennia AD, the animal generically labeled as the Atlas Bear may have in fact been a genetic fusion of mixed ancestry and geographical origin (coming from both the Iberian Peninsula and the Middle East at varying stages and to varying degrees throughout the ages). Therefore, the extant though critically endangered Syrian Brown Bear (U. arctos syriacus) which still exists in the Levant5, as well as the few remaining Pyrenean Brown Bears left in northern Spain, may share close relations with the now extinct Atlas Bear.6
Aside from new and compelling genetic studies, there are certain known anatomical differences in the morphology of at least some of the Maghrebi bears, which further elicit the understandable suspicion that they were in fact a separate species apart from Ursus arctos. Yet it may be stated that modern specimens of Atlas Bears are very few and consist entirely of fragmented subfossils found in caves –the most recent of which dates to ~726 AD.
A general appearance of the bear has been pieced together from numerous sources, though how standard the description was for the whole population is largely guesswork.
As previously mentioned, the Atlas Bear –short-faced, shaggy, and small- was generally about the size of the American Black Bear (Ursus americanus), although more heavily muscled. This would have probably placed its typical weight range anywhere between 200-500 lbs. for males, and 100-300 lbs. for females (also assuming they were as dimorphic as other living species of bears). Their fur was woolly and thick, dark brown to blackish in coloration, with belly fur and undersides lighter and of a rufuous-orange complexion. The claws of the Atlas Bear were apparently quite short, which seems to indicate that –given its smaller size- it may have been capable of climbing trees.
Some might claim that further clues to the physical appearance of the bear can be partly derived from mosaic images in Roman art, which some researchers have identified as probable ‘Atlas Bears’ (though how valid these claims are can really only be verified if the images are truly North African).7 From these few published images, it appears as though the animal retained some characteristics that are very unique to Brown Bears –such as the defining shoulder hump, the upturned, concave nose, and the smaller, rounded ears.
Atlas Bears probably fed mostly on ripe acorns (such as those belonging to the Algerian Oak), nuts, fruits, succulent roots, edible foliage, and occasional animal protein (a typical bear diet). A fairly accurate blueprint of the Atlas Bear’s diet could be derived from study of dental tooth-wear patterns as well as trace chemicals found within the bone tissue, but it appears that no such work has been either conducted or extensively published.
Ursus arctos crowtheri –once present in the vast territory spanning the region from Morocco to Libya- has all but vanished, and Berber country has no more bears.
What happened to this superb and unique animal? What or whom is responsible for its disappearance? It was likely a combination of several known factors which led to its extinction.
The depletion of the Atlas Bear (as well as the extinction of the Carthaginian Elephant Loxodonta africana pharaoensis and the European Lion Panthera leo tartarica) began with the expansion of the Roman Empire, which captured bears and other animals to be used as battle fodder for the savage entertainment of its gladiatorial arenas. Over the centuries, thousands upon thousands of bears (from Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East) were seized from the wilderness and pitted against gladiators, lions, tigers, and other animals –all of them routinely starved to induce desperation and increase natural aggression. It was a brutal and perhaps unfair end for an animal, which, in all truth, would have otherwise spent its comparatively less violent life eating acorns and honey in the mountains.
It has been speculated that at least some Atlas Bears may have in fact been ‘feral’ bears exported from Europe, and that the presence of bears in Africa may be partially if not entirely explained by an accidental or purposeful introduction by the Romans and Carthaginians who used the bears in battle arenas. This could at least be one possible explanation for the presence of the Clade V haplotype in some specimens, however, with the recent and profound discovery of Clade VI, and with the earlier presence of Ursus arctos faidherbi and Ursus arctos larteti in the Maghreb during the late Pleistocene, it may be fairly stated that the majority of these bears had become native to North Africa due to the natural dispersion of the species in ancient times (further verified by 14 C tests of the Takouatz bears, which predated the Romans by 5-7 millennia).8
After Roman cultural-political influence diminished and eventually faded out of northern Africa and Morocco, the Atlas Bears were further reduced by natural environmental changes which dried up their natural woodland habitats and expanded the desert. Continued over-hunting and over-harvesting by Berber tribesmen, Arabs, and finally pressure from European zoo collectors in the centuries that followed pushed the bear to the brink of extinction. The last known Atlas Bear was probably killed in the Tétouan Mountain Range in the late 19th century.
If indeed human beings were the greatest catalysts in the extinction of the Atlas Bear, what more can or should be said, but that our generation has been impoverished by the unnecessary loss of this very unique and very mysterious animal.
planetearthscienceart.blogspot.com/2010/07/africas-only-bear-brief-natural-history.html?m=1
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Post by Gorilla king on Jul 16, 2021 23:36:02 GMT -5
Atlas bear bones found in Djurdjura Algeria:
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Post by Gorilla king on Jul 16, 2021 23:54:10 GMT -5
Range: The Atlas bear was found in and around the region of the Atlas Mountains of North Africa from present-day Morocco to Libya, and was the only African bear subspecies to survive into the historic era. In prehistoric times the range was probably much greater throughout northern and eastern Africa.  Atlas Mountains region of North Africa
www.bearconservation.org.uk/atlas-bear-extinct/
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Post by tyrannosaurs on Jul 18, 2021 13:27:27 GMT -5
Ancient DNA evidence for the loss of a highly divergent brown bear clade during historical times: The genetic diversity of present-day brown bears (Ursus arctos) has been extensively studied over the years and appears to be geographically structured into five main clades. The question of the past diversity of the species has been recently addressed by ancient DNA studies that concluded to a relative genetic stability over the last 35,000 years. However, the post-last glacial maximum genetic diversity of the species still remains poorly documented, notably in the Old World. Here, we analyse Atlas brown bears, which became extinct during the Holocene period. A divergent brown bear mitochondrial DNA lineage not present in any of the previously studied modern or ancient bear samples was uncovered, suggesting that the diversity of U. arctos was larger in the past than it is now. Specifically, a significant portion (with respect to sequence divergence) of the intraspecific diversity of the brown bear was lost with the extinction of the Atlas brown bear after the Pleistocene/Holocene transition. www.researchgate.net/publication/5488122_Ancient_DNA_evidence_for_the_loss_of_a_highly_divergent_brown_bear_clade_during_historical_times |
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Post by oldindigosilverback on Aug 18, 2021 8:45:09 GMT -5
I am interested in interactions of Atlas bears and African lions.
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Post by Gorilla king on Aug 18, 2021 8:57:47 GMT -5
I am interested in interactions of Atlas bears and African lions. |
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Post by arctozilla on Sept 2, 2021 5:41:24 GMT -5
How much large was the Atlas bear? Is it larger than the grizzly bear?
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Post by Gorilla king on Sept 2, 2021 8:03:18 GMT -5
How much large was the Atlas bear? Is it larger than the grizzly bear? |
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Atlas bear
Sept 7, 2021 15:43:16 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by arctozilla on Sept 7, 2021 15:43:16 GMT -5
Atlas bear smaller than black bear? Really?  Any proof? |
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Post by Gorilla king on Sept 7, 2021 15:52:49 GMT -5
Atlas bear smaller than black bear? Really? Any proof? |
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Post by arctozilla on Feb 12, 2022 8:42:17 GMT -5
I have two 2 theories for the Atlas bear.
1) Atlas bears descend from a European brown bear population who went from Spain to Marocco by crossing the Gibiltar Landbrige during Ice Age.
2) Atlas bears (if they were distinct species from the brown bear) descend from a Estrucan bear population who lived in Marocco.
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Post by Montezuma on Apr 23, 2022 1:38:43 GMT -5
Atlas bear smaller than black bear? Really? Any proof? To be honest bro, i don't think they were that small. As king kodiak showed that some sources stated that they were small sized bears. But many say that they were over 9 feet tall and weighed almost 450kg. As i understand, the size can be exaggrated but it sometimes overrated and underrated. This site says they could weigh 180-450kg. www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.bearconservation.org.uk/atlas-bear-extinct/&ved=2ahUKEwjWnsz6xqn3AhV_gP0HHWBLCzgQFnoECAUQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2Vs0mLGpa1HR_PbanB3SVzMany others say that they were smaller than black bears but could weigh 450kg. Its just really confusing that the bear is smaller than even a black bear but weighs almost 450kg!🤯. Further, i think the bear should be large as brown bears are known to kill barbary lions in roman pit fights in which Atlas bears were also used and it is hard to think that "a bear smaller than a black bear" just beats the one of the largest lion species. So i think it would be better to say the bear was almost the same size as a american grizzly bear because considering it smaller than a black bear is just not convincing my mind. |
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Post by brobear on Apr 27, 2022 0:26:35 GMT -5
My thoughts. I believe that the detailed description of the Atlas bear by Swiss naturalist Heinrich Rudolf Schinz was taken from the last known specimen back in the 1840s. In zoos, full-time predators such as wolves, hyenas, and big cats had to be fed meat. To save on cost, bears were normally fed on a vegetarian diet. We cannot say that this size given was a typical Atlas bear; not with only one bear as the model. But, this is the only authentic and verified description taken from an actual Atlas bear.
As for the 9 feet long, 1,000 pound Atlas bear...( IMO )... someone posted this simply from measurements often given for the brown bear in general. Then, other people creating Atlas bear threads copy from this. Those measurements have no reliable source.
However, the fact that it has been verified that Atlas bear along with Eurasian brown bears were both used in the Roman blood-sports, and that bears were killing lions in combat, they could not have been very small. So, the size of a typical wild Atlas bear remains a mystery.
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Post by Montezuma on Jun 10, 2022 23:46:10 GMT -5
Depictions of Atlas bears in roman empire.
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