A basal ursine bear (Protarctos abstrusus) from the Pliocene High Arctic reveals Eurasian affinities and a diet rich in fermentable sugars

• Published in: Scientific Reports
• Main Authors: Wang, X. (Xiaoming), Rybczynski, N. (Natalia), Harington, C.R. (C. Richard), White, S.C. (Stuart C.), Tedford, R.H. (Richard H.)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: Arctic; Nunavut; Beaver Pond
• Online Access: https://ir.library.carleton.ca/pub/17168; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-17657-8

The skeletal remains of a small bear (Protarctos abstrusus) were collected at the Beaver Pond fossil site in the High Arctic (Ellesmere I., Nunavut). This mid-Pliocene deposit has also yielded 12 other mammals and the remains of a boreal-forest community. Phylogenetic analysis reveals this bear to b...