Ursidae

Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms within the suborder Caniformia. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout most of the Northern Hemisphere and partially in the Southern Hemisphere. Bears are found on the continents of North America, South America, and Eurasia. Common characteristics of modern bears include large bodies with stocky legs, long snouts, small rounded ears, shaggy hair, plantigrade paws with five nonretractile claws, and short tails.

Ursidae

Jean-noël Lafargue · FAL · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
bearPBDB
Sits inside
UrsoideaPBDB
Diet
herbivore, carnivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 33 million years on record.

The record covers at least 33.9 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 37 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 19 of 1027 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 52 of 1027 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 206 of 1027 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 86 of 1027 occurrencesPleistocene — about 532 of 1027 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 3 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 8 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 8 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 8 occurrences33–31 Mya — about 8 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 7 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 7 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 7 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 5 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 4 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 4 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 3 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 4 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 5 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 9 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 12 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 16 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 16 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 15 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 16 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 11 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 11 occurrences10–8.8 Mya — about 18 occurrences8.8–7.5 Mya — about 25 occurrences7.5–6.3 Mya — about 26 occurrences6.3–5.0 Mya — about 29 occurrences5.0–3.8 Mya — about 36 occurrences3.8–2.5 Mya — about 46 occurrences2.5–1.3 Mya — about 114 occurrences1.3–0 Mya — about 544 occurrences33.9 Mya11.7 ka37.7 Mya0 Mya

1,027 occurrences of Ursidae on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

1,027 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

123 formations

Hsanda Gol — 45.27°N, 101.77°EHsanda Gol — 45.30°N, 101.62°EHsanda Gol — 45.39°N, 101.24°EHsanda Gol — 45.30°N, 102.08°EChadron — 43.60°N, 102.45°WChadron — 43.00°N, 104.50°WChadron — 43.30°N, 102.50°WChadron — 42.40°N, 103.80°WChadron — 42.00°N, 104.20°WWhite River — 43.20°N, 108.20°WWhite River — 43.20°N, 107.10°WCromer Forest Bed — 52.46°N, 1.73°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.94°N, 1.25°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.93°N, 1.30°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.88°N, 1.44°ERunningwater — 41.70°N, 103.10°WRunningwater — 42.80°N, 103.10°WRunningwater — 42.70°N, 102.50°WRunningwater — 42.20°N, 103.10°WGlenns Ferry — 43.60°N, 116.80°WGlenns Ferry — 43.00°N, 115.70°WGlenns Ferry — 42.80°N, 114.90°WBermont — 28.80°N, 82.20°WBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WBermont — 27.00°N, 82.20°WSahabi — 30.14°N, 20.75°EAsh Hollow — 42.70°N, 100.00°WAsh Hollow — 40.50°N, 100.50°WAsh Hollow — 41.20°N, 98.80°WRancho Viejo Beds — 21.08°N, 100.67°WRancho Viejo Beds — 21.10°N, 100.80°WRancho Viejo Beds — 21.03°N, 100.75°WRancho Viejo Beds — 21.00°N, 100.70°WPalm Spring — 32.90°N, 117.10°WVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°ETarija — 21.53°S, 64.73°WTarija — 21.50°S, 64.75°WValentine — 40.02°N, 98.53°WValentine — 42.78°N, 100.03°WValentine — 42.60°N, 98.00°WPeace River — 27.90°N, 81.80°WPeace River — 27.68°N, 81.95°WBarstow — 35.05°N, 117.07°WBarstow — 34.80°N, 117.00°WUnterer Travertin — 50.95°N, 11.38°EUnterer Travertin — 50.98°N, 11.31°ERed Crag — 51.96°N, 1.35°ERed Crag — 52.09°N, 1.31°ERed Crag — 52.03°N, 1.32°EEdelény — 48.39°N, 20.64°EWulanbulage — 39.83°N, 108.73°EZia Sand — 35.70°N, 107.00°WOgallala — 36.70°N, 101.40°WOgallala — 38.90°N, 101.70°WAlachua — 29.70°N, 82.60°WAlachua — 29.55°N, 82.52°WRattlesnake — 44.50°N, 119.30°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Ursidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 99 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 819 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ursidae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Ursidae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

3,222 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 839 sites for Ursidae, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

502 references

Each of the 1,027 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 490 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Ursidae

Credit
Jean-noël Lafargue
Licence
FAL
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Ursidae indet. · ucmp:v:22462

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itUrsoidea through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1825