The cave bear’s skull

Cave bears inhabited Europe during the Pleistocene (approx. 300 thousand years ago). In Poland, they died out at the end of the last ice age, i.e. about 29,000 years ago. The main factor that contributed to it was probably climate change. he species was first described by a young physician Johann Christian Rosenmüller in 1794. Fossil bear bones are the most commonly found remains of large mammals in cave sediments. In Poland over 60 sites with the cave bear reports are known, two of which are in the Tatra Mountains: Jaskinia Magurska and Jaskinia Poszukiwaczy Skarbów (the Magurska Cave and the Cave of Treasure Seekers). According to some researchers, in the Magura Cave, there are also fossil bones of the brown bear Ursus arctos. ID no.: G/1654/MT Time and place: Pleistocene, Magurska Cave, Poland Museum: The Dr. Tytus Chałubiński Tatra Museum in Zakopane https://muzea.malopolska.pl/en/objects-list/1798 Digitalisation: RDW MIC, Virtual Małopolska project