Science / Medicine : Bones of Prehistoric Bear Found

Colorado researchers have found the first complete skeleton of a giant short-faced bear, believed by paleontologists to be the most powerful predator of the Pleistocene Epoch, which ended about 11,000 years ago. The skeleton was found at the base of a vertical drop-off more than 200 feet below a cave entrance in Carlsbad, N.M.

Claw marks on a limestone wall suggest that the bear may first have become stuck on a small shelf about 30 feet below the cave entrance, and then fallen off the shelf, said geochronologist Thomas Stafford Jr. of the University of Colorado.

The relatively light build and long legs of the bear suggest a fleetness of foot unusual in the bear family, Stafford said, and the primitive carnivorous tooth pattern indicates that it may have eaten more meat than present-day bears.