The Atlas bear or North African bear (''Ursus arctos crowtheri'') was a

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

(or populations) of

brown bears The Brown Bears are the sports teams that represent Brown University, an American university located in Providence, Rhode Island. The Bears are part of the Ivy League conference. Brown's mascot is Bruno. Both the men's and women's teams share th ...

native to

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

that became

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

in historical times.

Range

The Atlas bear was

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

's only native

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family (biology), family Ursidae (). They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats ...

sub-species that survived into modern times. Once inhabiting the

Atlas Mountains The Atlas Mountains are a mountain range in the Maghreb in North Africa. They separate the Sahara Desert from the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean; the name "Atlantic" is derived from the mountain range, which stretches around through M ...

and neighbouring areas, from

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

, the animal is now thought to be extinct.

Description

The Atlas bear was brownish-black in colour and lacked a white mark on the muzzle. The fur was long and was reddish-orange on the underparts. The muzzle and claws were shorter than those of the

American black bear The American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), or simply black bear, is a species of medium-sized bear which is Endemism, endemic to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. It is an omnivore, with ...

, though it was stouter and thicker in body. The Atlas bear was said to have been long and weighed up to .

Genetics

mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondrion, mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the D ...

study of bones of Atlas bears ranging in age from 10,000 to 800 years

Before Present Before Present (BP) or "years before present (YBP)" is a time scale used mainly in archaeology, geology, and other scientific disciplines to specify when events occurred relative to the origin of practical radiocarbon dating in the 1950s. Because ...

found that the specimens belonged to two distinct

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

s: one, referred to as "Clade V", was indistinguishable from brown bears found in the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

, while the other "Clade VI", was highly distinct from all other brown bears, either closely related to the

polar bear The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a large bear native to the Arctic and nearby areas. It is closely related to the brown bear, and the two species can Hybrid (biology), interbreed. The polar bear is the largest extant species of bear ...

and Alaskan brown bears or outside the group that contains all other brown bear mitochondrial lineages. Atlas bears do not appear to be closely related to Middle Eastern brown bear populations, despite geographic proximity, which suggests that the colonization of

by brown bears was an event of considerable antiquity.

Ecology

The Atlas bear's ecology is presumed to be similar to that of the other brown bears. Apparently fed on roots,

acorn The acorn is the nut (fruit), nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera ''Quercus'', ''Notholithocarpus'' and ''Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains a seedling surrounded by two cotyledons (seedling leaves), en ...

s and nuts, the Atlas bear was said to have been mostly herbivorous, but since most bears today are omnivores, the Atlas bear is believed to have been able to eat meat as well. It was believed that, if it did eat meat, it probably ate small mammals as well as carrion while scavenging.

Sympatric In biology, two closely related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter each other. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct spe ...

predators included the Barbary leopard and Barbary lion.

Extinction

The Atlas bear became extinct shortly after modern firearms were developed. Over-hunting may have contributed to their decline. Pressure from zoo collectors sealed their fate, with the animals being taken away from one another and unable to reproduce and flourish. The Atlas bear finally became extinct in the late 19th century; the last one recorded to be killed by hunters was in 1870 in the Tetouan Mountains in northern Morocco. Human activity can definitely be said to have played a large role in causing the extinction of the Atlas bear.

References

* * * "Bears of the Last Frontier, Hour One: City of Bears: Brown Bear Fact Sheet". www.pbs.org. Web. 23 Oct. 2014. * "The Animal Files". www.theanimalfiles.com. Web. 23 Oct. 2014. * "Brown Bear- Ursus Arctos". The National Park Service. www.nps.gov. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:bear, Atlas Atlas bear Mammals of North Africa Extinct mammals of Africa Extinct animals of Africa Species made extinct by human activities Mammal extinctions since 1500 Atlas bear Species that are or were threatened by sport fishing and hunting Subspecies of brown bear