Bear vs Ground Sloth

[Deleted]

I found this video and thought it will be interesting to post videos and accounts of giant short faced bears predation on ground sloths.

[brobear]

Even though Arctodus simus was not a full-time predator and lived very likely as a scavenger with 90% or better of his food intake from scavenging the kills of other predators, he might have occasionally killed something as slow-moving as a giant sloth. But we have also learned that this giant bear did not have the grappling ability of Ursus bears, like the grizzly. A fight with a giant sloth might have been too risky for the huge bear to consider.

[Deleted]

I also found this video a little strange considering the short faced bears poor grappling ability. Do you have any other accounts?

[brobear]

Jan 14, 2019 7:59:38 GMT -5 @londonbluebear said:

I also found this video a little strange considering the short faced bears poor grappling ability. Do you have any other accounts?

When looking at fossil remains of extinct animals and trying to picture the habits of that animal is a tricky business. Consider if you had never seen a deer. Its hard to imagine a fleet-footed herbivore with antlers resembling small trees without leaves branching out running through a forest. But they can and they do. 
 
I'm thinking that the most likely predators of giant ground sloths were the native big cats. 

[OldGreenGrolar]

[brobear]

There were some ground sloths too large even for Arctodus simus or Arctotherium angustidens to consider. Yet, there were species that were likely prey choices of the Pleistocene grizzly. I can easily envision a big boar grizzly challenging a Shasta Ground Sloth.
 
prehistoric-fauna.com/Nothrotheriops-shastensis 
 
Order: Xenarthra
Family: †Nothrotheriidae
Temporal range: during the Pleistocene of North America (2.6–0.011 Ma)
Dimensions: length - 2,7 m, height - 100-110 сm, weight - 250 kg
( 550 pounds ). 
A typical representative: †Nothrotheriops shastensis (Sinclair, 1905)
 
                   

[brobear]

There were a large variey of ground sloths in both North and South America consisting of six families; †Megalonychidae - †Megalocnidae - †Megatheriidae - †Nothrotheriidae - †Mylodontidae - †Scelidotheriidae.

[OldGreenGrolar]

I guess the short faced bears probably prey on the smaller ones.

[brobear]

Oct 9, 2020 23:10:14 GMT -5 OldGreenGrolar said:

I guess the short faced bears probably prey on the smaller ones.

Yes; I'm sure that even Arctodus simus had his size limits. Arctodus did not likely do a lot of hunting. But something as slow-moving as a ground sloth, I can't see him ignoring. I would wager that the Pleistocene grizzly knew well the taste of sloth flesh. 

[OldGreenGrolar]

So how often do you think a 2000 pound Californian grizzly will do against a giant sloth of similar weight or slightly heavier? My opinion, better than a short faced bear of similar weight will do.

I think the Californian grizzly should be more agile than the giant sloth as well.

[brobear]

Oct 11, 2020 6:22:36 GMT -5 OldGreenGrolar said:

So how often do you think a 2000 pound Californian grizzly will do against a giant sloth of similar weight or slightly heavier? My opinion, better than a short faced bear of similar weight will do.

I think the Californian grizzly should be more agile than the giant sloth as well.

The California grizzly probably did not gain his ( possibly ) Kodiak bear proportions until after the extinction of Arctodus simus. My thoughts are, the brown bears might have done more active hunting rather than compete with the giants. The Pleistocene brown bears might have been largely vegetarian for this same reason. 

[OldGreenGrolar]

Still the brown bear has survived among many predators for a long time. That is what makes them the most aggressive of the bears other than the sloth bear in my opinion.

[brobear]

Oct 11, 2020 6:41:40 GMT -5 OldGreenGrolar said:

Still the brown bear has survived among many predators for a long time. That is what makes them the most aggressive of the bears other than the sloth bear in my opinion.

The sloth bear is not nearly as aggressive as so many claim. He simply learned, over the course of time ( middle Pliocene ) that he stands a better chance of surviving an imminent tiger attack if he stands his ground rather than attempt to outrun the big cat. Most often, the tiger will decide against a frontal fight. 
Also note, sloth bears are noisy feeders. They are therefore often caught by surprise. A person might easily blunder too close by the time the bear notices he is there. Sloth bears have very bad peripheral vision, which makes it doubly easy to be caught by surprise. You get too close, the bear will attack.
But most brown bear subspecies are more aggressive than a sloth bear. 
  
*Bears in General; topic: Reply
*Debate: Most Aggressive Bear

[OldGreenGrolar]

The sloth bear is more on the defensive cage
.