shaggygod.proboards.com/ By Grrraaahhh... Not much is known about this bear. The scant fossil evidence suggest the Atlas bear was a smaller form of brown bear. We do know that they were hunted down to extinction so by inference we can assume this bear which was found throughout north Africa adapted fine to its habitat which would include lions.
By Warsaw... The Atlas Bear (Ursus crowtheri), a Closer Look at Africa's Only Bear
Let us travel to the Maghreb, north of the Sahara Desert, to the high Atlas Mountains of Morocco. In many places, these austere, celestial heights still remain relatively unblemished and pristine, and contain a wealth of superb natural treasures.
The climate of North Africa 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.
This place was once the haunt of the outstanding Barbary Lion (Panthera leo leo), a great cat of superlative splendor and form, 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 discouraging number of years. Many people fear that the Atlas Mountains have finally lost two living jewels that may never be obtained again.1
But there was another living jewel, a very unusual creature –and 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.
Megafaunal Maghrebi Carnivores ▲The three greatest carnivores of the Maghreb are now extinct. The Barbary Lion (Panthera leo leo) was the greatest among them and the greatest among all lions, the male manifested an impressively developed mane which grew black and thick and extended all the way down the length of his belly; such lions would have hunted the Red Deer of the Atlas as well as wild boar, Barbary Sheep, Mouflon and gazelle. It would appear as though many captive lions today are descended from the Barbary race; be that as it may, the race remains functionally extinct. The Atlas Bear (Ursus arctos crowtheri), without a doubt unique among Ursines, cannot be resurrected to its former condition. The Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera) on the other hand, may still lurk like a shadow in the mountains, though verified sightings have not been made in over a decade. It appears as though the great cat was not substantially different enough genetically from its abundant counterparts south of the Sahara to be considered a distinct subspecies -though it possessed certain physical traits unique among leopards of the region.
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 splendid 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 inhabits 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 -strictThe 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 racially 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 primate aside from human beings.
Possible Geographic Origins of the Atlas Bear ▲The Iberian Peninsula via the Strait of Gibraltar, or the Middle East via the Levant and Egypt.
So, how might all of these animals have arrived to North Africa if not by land? By sea of course! It is also 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.ly 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 racially 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 primate aside from human beings.
Possible Geographic Origins of the Atlas Bear ▲The Iberian Peninsula via the Strait of Gibraltar, or the Middle East via the Levant and Egypt.
So, how might all of these animals have arrived to North Africa if not by land? By sea of course! It is also 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 following 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 wooly 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.
It is believed that 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.