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, Xiaoming, Rybczynski, Natalia, Harington, C. Richard, White, Stuart C., Tedford, Richard H.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Nature Publishing Group UK 2017
• Subjects: Article; Arctic; Beaver Pond; Nunavut
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5735171/; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29255278; 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...