![]() ![]() Typical characteristics include a short body, strong jaws, lean hind legs, and a short broad lion-like muzzle. On average, these bears ranged from 5.5 feet tall to 10 feet long and were capable of short bursts of speeds, though they weighed as much as 2,000 pounds in the fall (a size that fairly dwarfs the modern grizzly). ![]() The king of the carnivorous arctic mammals, the giant short-faced bear showed a preference for regions of drier grasslands and preyed upon muskox, sloths, caribou, and horses. This ice-age animal ferociously inhabited the areas ranging from Alaska to Mexico, though the southern bears of this species were smaller compared to their northern counterparts. Grizzly, Polar, and Giant Short-Faced BearĪGiant Short-Faced Bears (Arctodus simus) Their main predators were American lions, wolves, and Paleolithic hunters and their diet consisted of various grasses found on the tundra. The basic characteristics of the steppe bison include large horns with curving tips, long hind legs, slightly larger body size than wood bison, and humped shoulders. Blue Babe was unearthed near a mine in Fairbanks in 1979, and was believed to have been killed by American lions nearly 36,000 years ago. Little is known about these ice age animals, but the discovery of the well-preserved "Blue Babe" helped scientist to gather what is known today. Bones of the Steppe bison dating back 15,000 years ago were even found in the Trail Creek Caves of Bering Land Bridge National Preserve. Though they became extinct around 11-8,000 years ago, their bodies were not only preserved on stone walls, but often found mummified in the ancient Eurasian and northern regions of North America. These mammals evolved in Eurasia more than 2 million years ago and reached Alaska in Illinoian glacial times around 187-129,000 years ago. Steppe bison are among some of the most commonly found depictions in cave art throughout Pleistocene time. ![]() The predators of this ancient species were scimitar cats, American lions, and Paleolithic hunters. What were their basic characteristics? Woolly mammoths were around 9-10 feet tall at the shoulder, had a tuft of hair on the very top of their heads to preserve warmth, a shaggy layer of insulated hair, and a shorter trunk that ended in a split, finger-like appendage used for holding vegetation. The reason for their extinction is still largely unknown, but often attributed to a combination of climate change and over-hunting by humans. Despite their placid, non-carnivorous approach to diet, their 200-pound, 12-feet-long, sloping tusks made them a formidable foe to predators. The woolly mammoths were herbivores and grazed on the many tundra grasses and vegetation. Originally made famous by cave art, their first remains weren't found until 1808 in Siberia more than 25,000 have been discovered since. Mammoths were relatives of the Elephantide family (including Asian and African elephants) and later evolved from the Steppe Mammoths of Siberia. Mammoths were believed to have spread through Europe and crossed Beringia into North America 100,000 years ago. Even scientists agree that the mammoth ruled the tundra and even named the grassland ecosystem in which they lived the Mammoth Steppe. The daunting, hairy body of the woolly mammoth is often seen as the beastly embodiment of arctic wildlife of the Pleistocene ice-age. ![]()
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