Atlas Bear
Probable Atlas Bear in Roman mosaic
Conservation status
Extinct (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Ursidae
Genus:	Ursus
Species:	U. arctos
Subspecies:	U. a. crowtheri
Trinomial name
Ursus arctos crowtheri Schinz, 1844

The Atlas Bear (Ursus arctos crowtheri)[Also known as the Shimera] was a subspecies of the Brown Bear, but is sometimes considered a distinct species. It was Africa's only native bear. Once inhabiting the Atlas Mountains and neighboring areas, from Morocco to Libya, the animal is now thought to be extinct. Thousands of these bears were hunted for sport, venatio games, or execution of criminals ad bestias following the expansion of the Roman Empire into North Africa.^{[citation needed]} The last known specimen was probably killed by hunters in the 1870s in the Rif mountains of northern Morocco, although reports still surface.^{[citation needed]}

The Atlas bear was brownish black in colour, and lacked a white mark on the muzzle. The fur on the underparts was reddish orange. The fur was 4-5 inches long. The muzzle and claws were shorter than that of the American black bear, though it was stouter and thicker in body. It apparently fed on roots, acorns and nuts.^[1]

The possibility has been raised that the species might still be alive in eastern Africa, and is the source of the cryptid known as the nandi bear, but this theory has essentially ruled out by biogeography.^{[citation needed]} Nonetheless, as the known distribution of the Atlas Bear is a relict of the desertification of the Sahara, its ancestor may have been widespread in northern and eastern Africa in prehistoric times.

[edit] References

• Hamdinea, Watik; Thévenotb, Michel; Michaux, Jacques (1998). "Histoire récente de l'ours brun au Maghreb" (in French). Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences 321 (7): 565–570. doi:10.1016/S0764-4469(98)80458-7. 
• Day, David (1981). The doomsday book of animals: a natural history of vanished species. Viking Press. pages 168-170 (includes illustration) ISBN 0670279870

[edit] External links

Wikispecies has information related to: Ursus arctos

• Atlas Bear at the Encyclopedia of Life

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