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Post by brobear on Dec 2, 2020 17:22:07 GMT -5
core.ac.uk/download/pdf/81528544.pdf Conclusions The youngest record of the cave bear dated to ca. 26,000– 25,000 cal. years BP and genetically confirmed as U. ingressus, together with its estimated extinction time, indicates that its isolated populations could survive into the middle of GS-3 stadial, the coldest phase of the Last Glacial. Its disappearance resulted from a climate cooling, which fragmented the habitats of the cave bear and reduced plant productivity that constituted its staple diet. Low temperatures also prolonged hibernation period for this bear, resulting in the animal becoming more vulnerable to attacks by predators and to human hunting. The cave bear was disappearing by separation into isolated populations confined to small habitats. One of them was karst terrains, e.g. the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland in Poland, where the latest so far record of the cave bear was discovered. The regions offered relatively favourable environmental conditions, with milder microclimate retaining sufficient ecosystem productivity. Thanks to that, cave bears could survive in these refugial areas longer. It cannot be ruled out that it survived the Last Glacial Maximum, as some of the specimens seem to indicate, but the data should be re-dated and confirmed by ancient DNA analyses. Further research is needed to fully understand paleoecology of this cave bear population.
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